0409 by Sean Fitzpatrick

ACADEMIA Marketing

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NEWSMAKER Johannes Gebregeorgis

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AIA/ALA Building Awards

APRIL 2009

THE MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

Ageless

Evergreen & Spotlight on Design & Construction

PLUS

Simple Library Living with Wanda Urbanska

Retrofitting on the Cheap

Celebrate National Library Week with Jamie Lee Curtis

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CONTENTS American Libraries

April 2009

Features 44

American institute of architects/ala library building awards

Winners of the biennial awards that recognize distinguished accomplishment in library architecture

a greener library, a greener you

Librarians can make a difference every day in many ways, as libraries move toward environmental friendliness BY wanda urbanska

building science 101

Save money, energy, and resources by getting a better understanding of how your building works

BY lynn piotrowicz and scott osgood

meeting studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; need states From solitary refuge to social hub, understanding the different ways students utilize the library is the key to boosting usage BY brian mathews

30 Cover photo by Technical Imagery Studio. Design by Jennifer Palmer.

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Cover Story

2009 library design showcase

Santa Rosa Junior Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Herold Mahoney Library in Petaluma, California, features tall glass curtain walls that face east to capture the view of Sonoma Mountain. New construction by TLCD Architecture. American Libraries highlights 23 new and renovated academic, public, and school facilities.

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CONTENTS American Libraries

april 2009

Volume 40 #4

ISSN 0 0 0 2 - 9 7 6 9

Departments Information Technology

24 26

Tech News Internet Librarian

By Joseph Janes

In practice

At the Last Minute

From Desktop to Cloud Top

by Meredith Farkas

People

62 Currents Professional Development

61 Youth Matters

It’s Not All Fun and Games

By Jennifer Burek Pierce

Librarian’s Library

Access for All

By Mary Ellen Quinn

Rousing Reads

Solutions and Services

Nazi Noir By Bill Ott

News 10 ALA 15 U.S. and INTERNATIONAL 23 Newsmaker: Yohannes Gebregeorgis, CNN Hero

Opinion and Commentary

4 From the editor

Buildings You Can Count On

By Leonard Kniffel

6 President’s Message Celebrate Library Workers

By jIM rETTIG

Reader Forum

Letters and Comments

28 Public Perception 29 On My Mind

Separate Means Unequal

By Katherine C. Adams

72 Will’s World

Do You Come Here Often? By Will Manley

Jobs

68 Career Leads from joblist

Your #1 Source for Job Openings

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START HERE TO DISCOVER THE AMAZING STORY OF YOU.

Take a walk in their shoes. Where did your ancestors walk? How did they live? ProQuest genealogy resources can help you find the answers, and discover their story. Get started on your journey with HeritageQuest® Online and Ancestry® Library Edition— for essential data in census records, local histories, vital records, family books, and more. Dig deeper with ProQuest® Obituaries and ProQuest® Historical Newspapers— for biographical sketches of individuals and other valuable clues that can further your search. Broaden your investigation with Historic Map Works™ Library Edition and Digital Sanborn Maps™—study residential genealogy through U.S. property, land ownership, land use, and geographic development records. Start on the path to genealogy research, with ProQuest. www.proquest.com/go/gen

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FROM THE EDITOR | Masthead

Buildings You Can Count On by Leonard Kniffel

50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611 www.ala.org/alonline/ • e-mail americanlibraries@ala.org toll free 800-545-2433 plus extension local 312-944-6780 • fax 312-440-0901 online career classified ads: JobLIST.ala.org editor in chief Leonard Kniffel • lkniffel@ala.org • x4216 senior editors Gordon Flagg • gflagg@ala.org • x4213 Beverly Goldberg • bgoldberg@ala.org • x4217 George M. Eberhart • geberhart@ala.org • x4212 associate editors Pamela A. Goodes • pgoodes@ala.org • x4218 Greg Landgraf • glandgraf@ala.org • x4216 Sean Fitzpatrick • sfitzpatrick@ala.org • x4219

design and production production director production editors

Benjamin Segedin Jennifer Palmer Taína Lagodzinski Carlos Orellana

publishing department

associate executive director Donald Chatham marketing and sales director Mary Mackay publishing technology director Troy Linker joblist classified advertising/ad traffic Jon Kartman rights and permissions Mary Jo Bolduc, 800-545-2433 x5416

columnists

Meredith Farkas, Joseph Janes, Will Manley, Bill Ott, Mary Pergander, Jennifer Burek Pierce, Mary Ellen Quinn

advisory committee

chair Laurel Minott, Joseph R. Diaz, Jill Grogg, Nancy Kalikow Maxwell, Melanie R. Metzger, Andrew K. Pace, Amber A. Prentiss; interns Bart Birdsall, Cynthia Bischoff Editorial policy: ALA Policy Manual, section 10.2

advertising representatives

advertising sales manager Brian Searles U.S. (except Eastern) and International Dave Adrian • dmadrian@aol.com • 818-888-5288 Eastern U.S. (except Pennsylvania) Doug Lewis • dglewis@mindspring.com • 770-333-1281 Acceptance of advertising does not constitute endorsement. ALA reserves the right to refuse advertising.

indexed

1996–2008 index at www.ala.org/alonline/. Available full text from ProQuest, EBSCO Publishing, H. W. Wilson, LexisNexis, and Information Access. Full-text searchable database of 2003–2008 issues available online free.

Libraries and other institutions: $70/year, 10 issues, U.S., Canada, and Mexico; foreign: $80.Subscription price for individuals included in ALA membership dues. 800-545-2433 x5108, e-mail membership@ala.org, or visit www.ala.org. Claim missing issues: ALA Member and Customer Service. Allow six weeks. Single issues $7.50, with 40% discount for five or more; contact Charisse Perkins, 800-545-2433 x4286.

published

American Libraries (ISSN 0002-9769) is published 10 times yearly by the American Library Association (ALA). Printed in U.S.A. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, Illinois, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Personal members: Send address changes to American Libraries, c/o Membership Records, ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. ©2009 American Library Association. Materials in this journal may be reproduced for noncommercial educational purposes.

american libraries

april 2009

elcome to the annual facilities issue of American Libraries, featuring a showcase of new and renovated libraries from around the country. While the current economic environment might make you stop and wonder how these projects managed their way through to completion and how many more we can expect in the coming year, here and now the news is good. Photographs and documentation from 73 projects rolled into the AL offices over the past year, painting a picture of growth and progress that bodes well for our libraries’ ability to respond to the rapidly increasing demand for the kind of community support and development they represent. Public, academic, and school libraries are featured in the showcase (beginning on page 31), and this year, in addition to the building projects highlighted in this issue, another 49 will share the spotlight in a spring AL digital supplement that’s coming to you soon via e-mail. The current scramble The green movement picked up speed for funding aside, it has this year as librarians became increasingly been reassuring to hear aware that environmentally friendly design and construction can also be finanfrom library directors cially friendly. Public television’s Wanda whose building projects Urbanska, host of the syndicated Simple are forging ahead. Living show, has investigated the phenomenon and come up with some steps each of us can take to get professionally greener, actions that are practical and, well, simple (p. 52). Urbanska will also be an AL-sponsored Auditorium Speaker during ALA’s Annual Conference in Chicago this summer. Visit www.simplelivingtv.net to learn more about her show, if you aren’t already a fan of the woman O, The Oprah Magazine has called “the de facto Martha Stewart of the voluntary simplicity movement.” Also in this issue, you’ll find the winners of the 2009 Library Buildings Awards presented by ALA’s Library Leadership and Management Association (p. 44) and an excerpt from a forthcoming ALA Editions book, Building Rescue, by Lynn Piotrowicz and Scott Osgood. The authors look at “Building Science 101” and offer tips for saving money, energy, and resources by getting a better understanding of how your building works. What will the facilities showcase look like next year? How will the scramble for funding affect projects that are underway or in the planning stage? It’s impossible to say, of course; but it has been reassuring, putting together the current issue, to hear from library directors whose building projects are forging ahead. Norman Maas at Norfolk (Va.) Public Library told me, “We have sent two city staff to a ‘Library Green Conference’ recently to prepare ourselves for doing our new building as green as we can. The RFP for the architects will go out this month, and I assume we will be into serious program design by this summer.” Stay tuned! z

THE MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

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PBS AND PRESENT

A M E R I C A T H RO U G H N AT I V E E Y E S

MONDAYS STARTING APRIL13 - 9PM

ET PT

pbs.org/weshallremain LIBERTY MUTUAL . Major funding provided by the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION , the CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING and PUBLIC TELEVISION VIEWERS . NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES , the FORD FOUNDATION , THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS and KALLIOPEIA FOUNDATION .

Exclusive corporate funding for American Experience provided by Funding for We Shall Remain provided by the

Photo: B. Charlo/Kalispel Nation

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ALA | President’s Message

Celebrate Library Workers Advocate for better salaries and support ALA–APA

and performance management. To expand and fulfill its advocacy role, ALA-APA needs additional resources. Personal donations are another revenue stream; alas, they are not tax-deductible. The organization’s newest venture, an online store (tinyurl.com/bj8bpz), offers tote bags, T-shirts, and more to carry the message that “Libraries Work Because We Do.” Controversy has attended ALAAPA since its inception. It has not yet become the financially robust organization envisioned in its initial business plan. However, other than individual action on one’s own behalf and collective action by local unions, it is the only organization we have to advocate for better compensation. Budget cuts have hit libraries as the economy has declined, with more cuts in the offing. Now more than ever, we need an organization that makes the case for our value as workers. If ALA-APA, the organization created to do just that, is to thrive and fulfill its founders’ vision, it needs support from library workers. Send cards if you wish on National Library Workers Day, but also take action. Send a contribution to ALAAPA, shop its store, purchase a personal or institutional subscription to Library Worklife, or at the very least ask your coworkers if they know about ALA-APA and its purpose. If they don’t, tell them. It’s not a secret. z ALA President JIM RETTIG is university librarian at Boatwright Memorial Library, University of Richmond in Virginia. Visit jimrettig.org.

american libraries

april 2009

ational Library Week eclipses attention to our own needs will be celebrated April and advocacy for our own interests. 12–18 this year. TuesALA-APA works to advance those inday of that week, April terests. 14, is National Library WorkThe shared vision of three ALA ers Day (tinyurl.com/akmrfu). divisions to create a post-MLS pubThis isn’t a Hallmark holiday with lic library administrator certificacommercially generated greeting tion program provided the impetus cards from grateful library patrons to create ALA-APA. The program to library staff. But library workers is growing gradually with 114 canwho enjoy creating their own cards didates to date and nine graduates may want to make some for their who have earned certification. colleagues. In other words, this is a Participants praise the program for little-known commemorative day, to the increased knowledge and selfdate, for ourselves by ourselves. confidence they have gained. A comNational Library Workers Day is plementary certification program promoted by the American Library for library support staff enters field Association–Allied Professional testing this year. These programs Association (ALA-APA): The Orgahave been designed as a service to nization for the Advancement of interested library workers and as Library Employees (www.ala-apa sources of organization revenue. .org). ALA-APA’s practiWhen I have cal tools help library Now more asked audiences workers be their own than ever, at library conferadvocates. The Better ences how many we need an Salaries Toolkit know about ALA– (tinyurl.com/af7ond) organization APA, perhaps 5% and programs on that makes raise their hands. pensions, employee Created in 2001 relations, and more the case for our value to carry out two during ALA Annual as workers. roles that lie outConferences build side ALA’s tax-exconfidence and can empt status, ALA-APA was designed make a difference. to develop certification programs Sources of revenue for ALA-APA and to advocate for better compenare the public library administrator sation for all library workers. ALAcertification program, librarian and APA Director Jenifer Grady explains library support staff salary surveys, that “ALA is for what people do. APA and subscriptions to the monthly onis for who people are.” line newsletter Library Worklife, which Library workers are service-orioffers practical information on labor ented. Our focused attention on the and workplace issues, such as interneeds of those we serve all too often view blunders, the gender wage gap,

by Jim Rettig

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OPINION | Reader Forum

Letters and Comments IMLS Grants Should Aid U.S.

when he spoke during ALA’s Annual Conference in 2005. You are so right! Offering what we can do to support our president and the nation, rather than what we want, is the best way to build our power. Yes we can!

I do not understand why the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is awarding a $500,000 grant to train library leaders from China and set up seminars for “Chinese librarians in China” (AL, Jan./Feb., Peggy Barber p. 12). Why is our tax money going to Library Communication Strategies, Chicago train Chinese librarians rather than American librarians and set up Second Banana Profession institutes in China rather than in the Have you no shame? Consideration for United States? the image of our profession? I could use some professional Clearly Anna Koval has none, when development myself. Turns out, the she writes that she Laura Bush 21st and her husband had Century Librarian to “share a banana” Program grants for Why is our tax for breakfast; but of professional developmoney going to course, she didn’t ment available through train Chinese mind, because she’s IMLS are only available such a proud librarian for traditional librarians librarians rather (AL, Mar., p. 10). working for libraries, than American Are you that gullnot for librarians like librarians? ible? You think she’s me who are working in even telling the truth? the private sector for a I was torn between vendor, or the legions rofl and hiding my face in shame. of librarians who today are unemployed. Seems as though unemployed librarians could benefit the most from professional development grants. Emily Nedell Tuck Vallejo, California

Thank you for your eloquent editorial in the January/February issue of American Libraries (p. 4). Thank you for reminding us of the positive and encouraging comments we heard from then-Senator Barack Obama

New York City

More on “Bunheads” I have to completely agree with Emily Nedell Tuck in her response to “The Bunheads Are Dead” (AL, Mar., p. 10). I have an MLIS with an undergraduate degree in English and have found that many of the suggestions for alternative careers for librarians are completely absurd. I would never tell a young person today to go for an MLS unless they had

The editors welcome letters about recent contents or matters of general interest. Letters should be limited to 300 words. Send to americanlibraries@ala.org; fax 312-440-0901; or American Libraries, Reader Forum, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611-2795.

Margie Wirth New York City

Second Life Memories My friend died Friday, February 13, after a two-year battle with cancer. Dave Mewhinney was not a librarian, but he played one in Second Life. I never met him face-to-face. All our contact was through e-mail, web communities, and Second Life.

american libraries

april 2009

More Obama Observations

Dave Lawrence

a JD or years in legal research at a large firm because they may find employment. If you have really good computer programming skills, then the degree may make sense for digital and other metadata work. Secondly, I do not understand why an MLS has to be a master’s degree. I have worked in a public library, a government library, and a school library and as a paraprofessional in both a law firm and law school. I do not see the need to have the degree as anything but an undergraduate degree. If you are going into academia that is different, and usually does require a second master’s in liberal arts. As far as public and school libraries are concerned, a master’s is just not necessary. Nurses; dental hygienists; physical, speech, and occupational therapists; and dietitians all work with undergraduate degrees. The graduate degree is available, but the undergraduate degree also exists. More harm could be done to an individual in the health care field through a practitioner than a undergraduate-degreed librarian could inflict. Perhaps it is time for the field to reexamine its requirements, which are very costly compared to the income and job prospects.

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They understood the importance of social interactions to information delivery in virtual (and actual) worlds and made real contributions to the improvement of the Info Archipelago. Dave, in all his forms, touched a lot of lives during the past two years. His loss makes me realize how important connections are, even virtual ones, and how tenuous. Dave and Holly’s home is in Illinois. I had hoped to meet both this summer during ALA’s Annual Conference. Steven R. Harris University of New Mexico Albuquerque

“. . . Your license and insurance are OK . . . but your library card is expired.”

Rutgers Change Troubling Since Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick, is highly ranked as a graduate program for library science, particularly in areas like school libraries, and the highestranked program in this area of the country, I guess it makes perfect sense to the new dean to remove “library” from the school’s name. A couple of years ago I attended a recruiting event in Chicago. As soon as recruiters heard that I was a Rutgers student, the very next words out of their mouths were “You’re from Rutgers? Would you be willing to relocate?” I guess future grads can expect to hear “You’re from Rutgers? I didn’t know that they still awarded the MLIS.” Jeanne Murray Newark (N.J.) Public Library

that just as Steamboat Willie was about to fall into the public domain, there was an extension of the period of protection. It’s reasonable to allow copyright protection to be extended for the life of the artist and with a reasonable period after the artist’s death for the heirs and assignees to get some value from it, but without extending it seemingly forever. Corporate copyright needs protection, but, again, not forever. Congress has, upon occasion, extended the copyright on specific items with private bills, though these have sometimes been challenged. It’s a balancing act, but in the long run allowing works to enter the “intellectual commons” in a timely manner is in the greater interest. J. B. Post

Continue the conversation at al.ala.org/forum/

april 2009

CORRECTION: Sheldon Bair’s name was misspelled in “Hearing It Again for the First Time” (Dec. 2008, p. 48–51). The Williamsburg Regional Library in the photo “Having an Inaugural Ball” is in Virginia, not Ohio (Mar., p.18).

Melanie Schlosser’s piece on copyright (AL, Mar., p. 33) is correct in noting it is not the artist who profits from copyright extension, but the commercial distributors. She does, however, fail to mention one of the major offenders: Mickey Mouse. It’s amazing

Paoli, Pennsylvania

american libraries

He and his wife, Holly Peters, signed up for Second Life soon after he was diagnosed, seeking information and community with other cancer survivors. They somehow found their way to Info Island and became regulars among the visitors to the Info Archipelago and the Alliance Virtual Library, an area of extensive library development within Second Life. They became founding members of a Second Life group called the Infogroupies or, alternatively, the Infomaniacs, which served both a social and a mentoring function to librarians and anyone interested in information delivery within virtual worlds Dave had a couple of different Second Life avatars; one was Haldin Koba, a gray-haired, sharp-tongued joker who was a regular fixture at the Alliance reference desk on Info Island International, where he served an official volunteer shift. He also created a female named Lena Kjeller, who was given the Volunteer of the Month award for service at the reference desk. She played a schoolmarm in Deadwood, an Old West role-playing simulation loosely based on the television series. She even set up a library with 19thcentury dime novels and They books of improvement understood the for young importance ladies. of social When Dave died, the interactions librarians, to information developers, delivery in and residents of Info virtual (and Archipelago actual) worlds. created two memorials to him; one on Imagination Island and the other near the reference desk. Dave and Holly had both retired. In real life he had been a television engineer, and she was in public relations and marketing. In Second Life they were not only great friends, but also real information professionals.

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NEWS | ALA

Survey Reveals a Decline in Public Library State Funding

orty-one percent of the states report declining state funding for U.S. public libraries in FY2009, according to a survey of the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies conducted by ALA. Twenty percent of these states anticipate an additional reduction in the current fiscal year. While coast-to-coast reductions have been seen, the hardest-hit areas are in the southeast, with declines as large as 30% in South Carolina and 23.4% in Florida compared with FY2008. Per-capita state aid in South Carolina has fallen back to 2003 levels; at the same time inflation has averaged between 2.5% and 3.4 % annually. Additionally: Alabama reported

a 9% reduction; Georgia, 8%; Louisiana, 7.1 %; and Mississippi, 5%. Ohio and Hawaii, which provide the greatest proportion of state funding to public libraries per capita in the United States, also are reporting or anticipating declining state funds. Hawaii reported a 7% decline in state funding in FY09 and anticipates additional reductions. As state revenues plummet in Ohio, libraries in the state are bracing for the impact on their budgets, as state funding for public libraries constitutes 2.22% of the state general revenue. Nationally, state funding makes up about 9% of overall public library funding. In Ohio, it provides 62.1% and in Hawaii 86.7% . Other states reporting FY09

funding declines include Iowa, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Utah. The survey was conducted as part of the Public Library Funding and Technology Access Study. The 2007– 08 and 2006–07 studies are available at www.ala.org/

Connect @ Your Library with Jamie LEE

ALA’s Committee on Accreditation has announced actions taken during the Association’s Midwinter Meeting in Denver. Continued accreditation status was granted to the following programs: master of science in library and information science offered by Pratt Institute in New York City, master of library and information science offered by the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and master of science in library and information science offered by Syracuse (N.Y.) University. The next comprehensive review

visit at each institution is scheduled for 2015. The candidacy status of the master of library and information science program at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota, was maintained. A progress review visit is scheduled for 2012. A complete list of programs and degrees accredited by ALA is available at www.ala.org/accreditation. Individuals who would like more information about a particular program should contact the program.

New York Times bestselling author and actress Jamie Lee Curtis is serving as this year’s National Library Week (April 12–18) honorary chair. Curtis is lending her image to a public service announcement that features this year’s theme, “Worlds connect @ your library.” Visit www.ala.org/nlw for more information and ALA Graphics (www.alastore.ala.org) for other theme materials.

american libraries

april 2009

New Accreditation Actions Announced

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Annual Unconference Plans Underway

Second Virtual Poster Sessions Announced

As part of ALA President Jim Rettig’s “Creating Connections” initiatives, 75 conference attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a free Unconference that will take place July 10 during ALA’s Annual Conference in Chicago. The full-day Unconference program will provide an opportunity for attendees to become active participants by determining the day’s agenda. Collaboration will take place online prior to the Unconference to identify discussion topics. Everyone will be both teacher and learner, discussing the topics of most interest to them. Registration is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Lunch will be included. Visit wikis .ala.org/annual2009/index.php/ Unconference for details.

Following the success of ALA President Jim Rettig’s Association-wide fall/winter Virtual Poster Session, a second session is planned for this

spring with the theme “Inquire Within.” The deadline for submitting proposals is May 1. Proposals should focus on practical research aimed at addressing challenges that face individual

Celebrating Library Workers

american libraries

april 2009

April 14 is National Library Workers Day (NLWD), when library staff and patrons are urged to honor the contributions of all library workers, including librarians, support staff, and others who make library services possible. Purchase buttons (as shown), T-shirts, caps, and other NLWD paraphenalia at www .cafepress.com/ALA_APA and nominate your favorite library worker for a star by visiting www.ala-apa.org. Star entries will be featured until June 30.

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NEWS | ALA libraries. To be considered, send a proposal in the form of a summary of your library’s efforts. Up to 25 submissions will be selected and will be available for viewing during July. Send proposals to John M. Budd at buddj@missouri.edu.

ALSC, Reforma Host Día April 30

2000 by Patricia Glass Schuman and John Vincent Neal, founders of Neal-Schuman Publishers, to aid, assist, and promote research and educational activities for the improvement of library and information services. Schuman, who serves as company president, is a past ALA president. Her work on behalf of library advocacy, including cofounding the Library Champions group to support ALA’s first national media campaign to increase library funding, has garnered many awards and accolades. For more information, visit www.ala.org/librarychampions.

Neal-Schuman Joins as Arbuthnot Lecture Library Champion The Neal-Schuman Foundation, Tickets Available based in New York City, has joined ALA’s Library Champions program. The foundation was established in

The 2009 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, featuring children’s and young adult author Walter Dean My-

american libraries

april 2009

Complimentary brochures featuring a booklist with bilingual, Spanishonly, and English titles for children are available as ALA’s Association for Library Service to Children and Reforma: The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the SpanishSpeaking urge libraries across the country to celebrate El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day), also known as Día, April 30. This year’s theme is “Celebrate

¡Celebremos!” Día, created by author Pat Mora, is designed to focus on the importance of advocating literacy for every child, regardless of linguistic and cultural background. New this year is a Día wiki (wikis.ala.org/alsc) for libraries to share celebration ideas, tips, and resources. To request a brochure, visit www .ala.org/dia. Libraries that register their events through the website will receive complimentary brochures, while supplies last. An interactive map showing information about registered events is also available on the website. Reforma is an ALA affiliate.

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Limited Edition

Woman’s Day Seeks Library Stories

Woman’s Day magazine is seeking information on how the library is being used to help save money. Through May 18, women ages 18 and up are in-

Apr. 30: El Día de los Niños/ El Día de los Libros, www.ala.org/dia. May 7–8: LITACamp, Dublin, Ohio, www.ala.org/lita. May 11–12: National Library Legislative Day, www .ala.org/washoff. July 9–15: ALA Annual Conference, Chicago, www.ala.org/annual. Oct. 1–4: Library and Information Technology Association National Forum, Salt Lake City, www.ala.org/lita. Oct. 18–24: Teen Read Week. www.ala.org/yalsa. Nov. 5–8: American Association of School Librarians National Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina, www.ala.org/aasl. Mar. 23–27, 2010: Public Library Association National Conference, Portland, Oregon, www.ala.org/pla. Aug. 4–10, 2010: National Conference of African American Librarians, Birmingham, Alabama, www.bcala.org.

Visit www.ala.org/ala/ alonline/calendar/ calendar.cfm for American Libraries’ full calendar of library events.

april 2009

ALA’s Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC) Steering Committee has selected Kansas City, Missouri, as the site of its second national conference, to be held September 19–23, 2012. This will be the second collaboration of ALA’s five ethnic library affiliate groups—the American Indian Library Association; the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association; the Black Caucus of the American Library Association; the Chinese American Librarians Association; and Reforma, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. For more information, contact Marcellus Turner at mturner@ jefferson.lib.co.us.

Apr. 12–18: National Library Week, www.ala.org/nlw.

Kansas City Selected as Site of JCLC 2012

ALA Events

ers, will take place April 18 at the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) Haley Farm in Clinton, Tennessee. The lecture is administered by ALA’s Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). It is being hosted this year by CDF’s Langston Hughes Library with the support of the University of Tennessee School of Information Sciences in Knoxville, UT’s Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, Knox County Public Library, and Clinton Public Library. For ticket information, visit arbuthnotlecture2009.eventbrite .com. Written ticket requests may be faxed to 865-457-6464. ALSC is also seeking available institutions interested in hosting the 2010 Arbuthnot Lecture, to be delivered by Kathleen T. Horning, director of the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center. Host site application forms are available at www.ala.org/alsc; click on the link under “Breaking News.” The application deadline is May 1.

Calendar

american libraries

Matteson (Ill.) Public Library youth services staffers (from left) Joseph Friedman, Julia Driscoll and Phyllis Davis show off the library’s copies of the specialedition Amazing Spider-Man #583, featuring President Barack Obama on the cover. Also in hand are Obama bookmarks made at the library using ALA’s READ artwork software.

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NEWS | ALA vited to send in stories of 700 words or less to womansday@ala.org. Up to four stories will be profiled in the March 2010 issue. Librarians can download free tools to help collect local stories from the Campaign for America’s Libraries website (www.ala.org/@yourlibrary; click on “Woman’s Day”). The latest initiative continues an eight-year partnership between the magazine and ALA’s Campaign for America’s Libraries that has generated millions of dollars worth of editorial coverage for libraries. Four readers who used the library to improve their health and wellness are featured in the March issue.

New Gaming Toolkit Available

ALA, with assistance from a $1-million Verizon Foundation grant, has developed an online toolkit to aid librarians in serving the growing gaming constituency, available at librarygamingtoolkit.org. The Librarian’s Guide to Gaming: An Online Toolkit for Building Gaming @ your library offers content contributed by expert gaming librarians across the country. It includes a wide range of resources to help librarians create, fund, and evaluate gaming experiences in the library. Hundreds of libraries across the country celebrated November 15, 2008, as ALA’s first annual National Gaming Day @ your library.

The Wayne State University Library and Information Science Program in Detroit is providing $5,000 in matching scholarship funds to Spectrum scholar Serena Vaquilar. A graduate of California State University at Northridge, Vaquilar is interested in a career as a fineand performing-arts librarian. She recently served as an intern for the

Creating a Better Future for Children Through nationwide initiatives, strategic partnerships, prestigious awards, and educational opportunities, the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) advocates for the best possible library service for all children and the development of high-quality library materials.

Online Education ALSC’s new online education courses, taking place virtually in Moodle, offer convenience and flexibility for anyone looking to build upon current skills or learn something new. Courses such as “Reading Instruction and Children’s Books” and “The Caldecott Medal” will begin July 20. Visit www.ala.org/alsced for more information.

Kids! @ Your Library ALSC’s “Kids! @ your library” public awareness campaign will host “A.R.T. and Your Library: How You Can Bring Them Together!” July 12 from 1:30 to 3 p.m., during ALA’s Annual Conference in Chicago. A.R.T. (Authors Readers Theatre) members Avi, Brian Selznick, Pam Muñoz Ryan, and Sarah Weeks will perform their readers’-theater magic to demonstrate how this type of program can be presented in the library with children. To learn more about the Kids! campaign, visit www.ala.org/kids.

Taking on Big Issues at Annual The Annual preconference, “Meeting the Challenge: Practical Tips and Inspiring Tales on Intellectual Freedom,” will be held July 10. The day will involve practical and pragmatic advice surrounding intellectual freedom challenges, including media debates and legal issues. Author Judy Blume will conclude the preconference by offering strategies for addressing complaints and stories to strengthen resolve. ALSC’s Charlemae Rollins President’s Program, featuring Melba Patillo Beals, is slated for July 13, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. Only 52 years ago, then–15-year-old Beals and eight other black students faced down furious segregationists and the Arkansas National Guard to integrate Little Rock Central High School. Now a bestselling author and Congressional Gold Medal of Honor recipient, Beals will join ALSC to discuss her fight for civil rights in the United States. Jenny Najduch, marketing specialist, membership

Detroit Symphony Orchestra Library. The University of Wisconsin at Madison’s School of Library and Information Studies is waiving tuition for Spectrum scholar Omar Poler. Poler is a Mole Lake Sokaogon Ojibwe tribal member, who is originally from a small Anishinaabe com

munity in northeastern Wisconsin’s Forest County. He hopes to combine an interest in academic librarianship with American Indian history and language, specifically in the service of Wisconsin’s various American Indian communities. For more information, visit www .ala.org/spectrum. z

american libraries

april 2009

Universities Support Spectrum Scholars

The Association’s Associations: ALSC

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U.S. & International | NEWS

It’s Pink-Slip Season for California School Librarians the FY2010 reductions would result in the remaining MCS school library staff being “expected to serve five or more schools weekly” and eliminate media-center visits for “our youngest students, those whose literature development is most important.” Among the other school districts where library media staff have been notified that they are on the layoff list are: n Corona-Norco Unified School District, whose board approved March 3 the issuing of pink slips to its five high-school teacher-librarians; n Las Virgenes Unified School District, which okayed layoff notices March 3 to all six school librarians and announced plans to merge media-center duties with technology support for classroom teachers; n Lompoc Unified School District, whose board voted February 19 to cut its two remaining school library media specialists and halve the hours of its library assistants.

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Although a few school boards have reversed course on layoffs—including Madera Unified School District, where library advocates have successfully fought off cuts Cutting across the state for three years in a row—the state’s dire fiscal crisis does The library cuts to the Modesto City Schools are particunot foreshadow happy endings all around. larly ironic in light of the $506,048 Improving Literacy “There has been more discussion this year about acthrough School Libraries grant MCS recently received for tually closing school libraries,” Barbara Jeffus, school staff development and materials purchases. The district library consultant for the California Department of Edwebsite explains that the funds enabled K–6 library meucation, told American Libraries, noting that while the dia teachers and library state education code requires dis“The effect of these drastic cuts will assistants—many of tricts to provide library services, whom are now on the “There isn’t any teeth in [the be the undoing of one of the state’s chopping block—to decode].” premier library programs.” velop standards-based “When school libraries are left Cindy Bender unattended, the collections disaplessons intended to help MCS close the achievelibrary media teacher pear and are not replaced,” ment gap of its students Modesto City Schools Blanche Woolls of San Jose State learning English as a secUniversity library school told AL. ond language, a districtwide strategic goal. Determined media specialists were readying talking “The effect of these drastic cuts in personnel will be points and protest signs to sway decision makers. “Lithe undoing of one of the state’s premier library probraries should be an easy sell,” school-library advocate grams,” MCS Library Media Teacher Cindy Bender wrote Stephen Krashen mused to AL, lamenting that too few in a letter published in the March 10 Bee. Serving two el- connect the dots between school-library quality and student success. —B.G. ementary schools prior to the cuts, Bender noted that

april 2009

The big picture

american libraries

n what seems to have become an annual spring rite in the Golden State, school boards throughout California have been issuing layoff notices to school library media specialists, as well as other educators and support staff, to ensure that the districts met a March 15 notification deadline mandated by the state education code. With an $8.4-billion drop in state support to K–12 schools and higher education through June 30, 2010, the California Teachers Association estimated in early March that some 17,800 preliminary layoff notices would be issued to its members; 10,000 were sent in 2008. “Please, please reconsider some other options that are open to you,” Modesto Teachers Association President Charlie Young urged school board members March 2 before the board voted 5–1 to cut 8.5 library media teachers and eight library assistants. Also scheduled for reduction in force to narrow an estimated deficit of $11.3 million through July 2010 are college counselors and K–6 music teachers. “It has been no easy task,” Superintendent Arturo Flores told attendees, according to the March 3 Modesto Bee.

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NEWS | U.S. & International Auditor Cries Foul on Library Gaming A 10-minute YouTube video posted by the Nebraska Library Commission on January 18, 2008, to announce the Commission’s purchase of Rock Band and Dance Dance Revolution has resulted—roughly a year later—in an audit issued February 24. In it, Nebraska Auditor of Public Accounts Mike Foley concluded that “the purchase of gaming equipment is a questionable use of public funds,” and that “using social websites and gaming equipment on State time and with State computers . . . appears to be an inappropriate use of public funds.” The audit, initiated when an unidentified taxpayer expressed concern after seeing the video on YouTube, concluded that the NLC’s Network Services staff spent $447.17

to purchase a PlayStation 2 and the two games, $29.26 of which was sales tax that the nonprofit state agency did not need to pay. The report further notes that the commission paid $100 to “lease” virtual real estate in Second Life and a total of $73 over three years to purchase Flickr pro-account membership. With an eye toward expanding its services, NLC had proposed at the 2007 joint conference of the Nebraska Library Association and the Nebraska Educational Media Association to make the one-time gaming-equipment purchase to use in training members of the Nebraska library community who wish to integrate gaming into their programming. NLC Director Rod Wagner told American Libraries that until NLC made the purchase, state library staff members had been

Polish-American writers attracted an enthusiastic crowd February 12 at the Polish Museum of America in Chicago, reading from and talking about their work. Host librarians (kneeling) Małgorzata Kot (left) and Krystyna Grell pose with authors (from left) John Guzlowski and Anthony Bukoski; PMA President Maria Ciesla; authors John Minczeski, Leslie Pietrzyk, and Linda Nemec Foster; and PMA Director Jan Lorys. The program was held in conjunction with the Associated Writing Programs conference in the Windy City that week.

Topeka Board Restricts Sex-Themed Titles The Topeka and Shawnee County (Kans.) Public Library board voted 5–3 February 19 to restrict minors’ access to four books about sex, although the trustees failed to specify just what that restriction would entail. The titles challenged by complainant Kim Borchers in November 2008 are The Joy of Sex, The Lesbian Kama Sutra, The Joy of Gay Sex, and Sex for Busy People: The Art of the Quickie for Lovers on the Go, the Topeka CapitalJournal reported February 20. Borchers, who represents a group called Kansans for Common Sense, had contended in her statement of concern that the materials were harmful to minors under state law. In a February 13 memo to the board, library Executive Director Gina Millsap reminded trustees that the TSCPL collection contained more than 600 books “with subject headings relating to sex, sex instruction, sexual behavior, fertility, etc.” and went on to ask, “Will staff be expected to review all of these titles and assign some or all of them to a restricted collection?” Of the 16 people who weighed in on the challenged titles at the threehour meeting, 14 were against restricting them. Following the vote, the board’s chair, Kerry Onstott Storey expressed surprise at the outcome. “I am extremely disappointed in the board,” she said. “I am stunned as chairwoman.” After the meeting, Onstott Storey, noted that several of the trustees who supported the restriction attend Topeka Bible Church, as does Borchers.

american libraries

april 2009

magnetic poles

bringing their own personal videogame consoles to conferences in response to requests for demonstrations. “Because we were getting these requests,” said Wagner, “we decided to spend a little bit of money.”

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Topeka lawyer Pedro Irigonegaray, who attended the meeting, told the Capital-Journal he had already been approached by residents interested in initiating a lawsuit to overturn the board’s decision. “Unfortunately, we are seeing what can happen when a small but committed minority decides to take action, and it is now up to the good people of Topeka to join together and say no to this insanity,” said Irigonegaray. “This is about freedom. Suffice to say, this is a sad day for our community.” Doug Bonney of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri has also weighed in on the civil liberties at issue in the action. Bonney cautioned Onstott Storey February 18 that any policy restricting access to any titles in the collection is unconstitutional “because it would take these books off the shelves and place them out of

A hand in politics

The Madison Heights (Mich.) Public Library hosted 1st-grade classes from Lessenger Elementary School February 11. The students got library cards, listened to stories about puppets, and made their own—of President Obama. The puppets provided a “change from the usual boring library tour,” commented Children’s Librarian Alex Krentzin, “and the kids had a great time, as I hoped they would.”

Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the

Freedom to Read Foundation Featuring Award-Winning Author, Scott Turow

Sunday, July 12, 2009

The Modern Wing, Art Institute of Chicago

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Museum opens at 6:15 p.m. Cocktails 6:30 p.m. Dinner 7:30 p.m. For more information, please visit: www.ftrf.org/ftrfgala

american libraries

Modern Wing Gallery Open to All Guests

april 2009

This will be one of the first events in this acclaimed new space designed by Renzo Piano.

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NEWS | U.S. & International reach of patrons browsing the shelves [even though] Ms. Borchers and her group are not asking that these books be totally removed.” The board’s action became an issue in Topeka’s March 3 mayoral primary: City council member Jeff Preisner accused Mayor Bill Burten of injecting politics into the library’s operations. Noting that four of the five trustees who voted to restrict the books were appointed by Burten, Preisner said the mayor packed the board with “like-minded individuals who would carry out his personal agenda,” the Capital-Journal reported February 23. Top primary voter-getters Burten, Preisner, and Jon-Wesley D. O’Hara will face off in the April 7 general election.

Chattanooga Report Urges Major Reforms

The Chattanooga–Hamilton County (Tenn.) Bicentennial Library was slammed in a consultants’ report that said the library “lacks a clear vision for the future,” is underfunded in both its operating and capital budgets, has a problematic governance structure, has buildings that

are unattractive and inadequate, and ing is that they are not using their financial resources in the best posuses outdated technology. sible way.” The report, prepared for a mayoral Library board Chairman Bill Robtask force by consultants June Garcia and Susan Kent, found the Downtown inson said the fact that trustees and staff serve both the Library and four branches “crowded, The report found the county and city made it difficult to get increased unattractive, and facilities “crowded, funding, with the library poorly laid out,” unattractive, and getting sandwiched bewith inadequate poorly laid out, tween the two bodies lighting, makeshift bickering over funding furniture, and badly levels. “I think it would be more designed computer areas. They called beneficial for the city or the county to for immediate improvements to the be a sole-governing source,” he said. buildings, “particularly on items that “It would probably make more sense affect life safety issues,” followed by for the city to take that control.” consideration of new facilities based Calling the report “tough but on population growth and the possible honest,” Library Director David move of the downtown library to anClapp told American Libraries that other site. “We’re glad to be on the same page The consultants called the goverwith the city and county for the first nance and funding structure of the time in a while,” noting that the lilibrary, which is jointly funded by brary has long been in need of an the city and county, “problematic overhaul. Requests for improveand confusing,” and faulted the liments have been on the table for brary for not having a fundraising years, Clapp said, but the library has program or a strategic plan. “been at a stalemate between the “One of the critical findings was city and county for a long time.” that it’s underfunded, and we don’t Clapp hopes that the board will contest that,” Mayor Ron Littlefield conduct public speak-outs and meet said in the February 22 Chattanooga Times Free Press. “But the other find- with officials to maintain awareness

Eleven original paintings by local author and artist Willie Nell Shahraki-Heard were on display at the Art Tatum African American Resource Center Gallery at Toledo–Lucas County (Ohio) Public Library’s Kent branch, including this portrait of the jazz pianist for whom this gallery is named. Part of February’s Black History Month focus, the “Gifts of an Artist” exhibit featured oil paintings of historical images reflecting Heard’s southern roots in Greensboro, Alabama.

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april 2009

REFLECTIONS OF SOUTHERN ROOTS

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Fingerprint Find of the library’s problems. “My principal fear is that the report will be old news” by the time the next budget process begins, he said.

Lydia Smith, a first-year psychology student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, discovered what experts say is a fingerprint belonging to Abraham Lincoln. Smith discovered the print while transcribing an October 5, 1863, letter by the former president found in the library’s Papers of Abraham Lincoln collection, which also contains the first authenticated fingerprint of Lincoln with a signature known to historians.

House Rehashes Bill to Block Public Access

to states as bonus grants for meeting key performance measures in education; and $8.8 billion to states for high-priority needs such as public safety and other critical services, which may include public libraries Stimulus Package and the modernization, renovation, Could Benefit Libraries and repairs of the facilities of public The $787-billion American Recovery schools and institutions of higher and Reinvestment Act signed by education; President Obama February 17 inn An additional $120 million for cludes several economic-stimulus the Senior Community Service Proprovisions that could directly benefit gram to provide community service libraries, notes the American Library jobs at nonprofit and public faciliAssociation’s Washington Office: ties, including libraries, to 24,000 n $7.2 billion to increase broadolder Americans; band access and usage in unserved n An additional $130 million for and underserved areas of the nathe Rural Community Facilities Protion, including $200 million in gram to provide loans and grants for competitive grants for expanding rural community facilities, includpublic-computer capacity at public ing libraries. libraries and community colleges. Washington Office Executive DiThis includes $650 million for DTV, rector Emily Sheketoff cited librari$90 million of which ans’ role in shaping may be used by organi- “I am grateful to the legislation: After zations, including lian amendment was see libraries are braries, for education introduced in the and outreach to vulnera- included in this Senate that would ble populations; have stripped the effort to put our n $53.6 billion for nation on the road broadband funding the State Fiscal Stabilifor libraries, an alert to recovery,” zation Fund, including from ALA generated $39.5 billion to local —ALA President over 1,200 phone school districts using Jim Rettig calls in three hours, existing funding formuhelping convince leglas; among the permissible uses is islators to retain the provision. school modernization, which could Explaining that governors will have great discretion in how to benefit school libraries; $5 billion

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the NIH policy does not affect copyright law because copyright law leaves researchers free to transfer their copyrights to a journal publisher or anywhere they so choose.

The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act, which would block free access to research conducted by taxpayer-funded organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, was introduced February 3 in the House by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). H.R. 801 duplicates word-for-word H.R. 6845, which was shelved at the end of 2008. The legislation essentially bars government agencies from requiring authors to transfer their copyright in order to receive public funding for their research. If enacted, H.R. 801 would repeal the NIH Public Access Policy, which President Obama backed March 11 by signing a bill containing an open-access provision. The American Library Association and nine other groups wrote to members of the House Judiciary Committee February 13 urging representatives to oppose the bill. Open access “allows for greater sharing of information, speeding discovery, medical advances, and innovations,” the letter stated. However, the Association of American Publishers welcomed the bill’s reintroduction, stating that the act would “preserve the incentives for the private-sector investments in the journal publishing community.” Copyright Alliance also praised the bill, stating, “The mere fact that a scientist accepts as part of her funding a federal grant should not enable the federal government to commandeer the resulting peer-reviewed research paper and treat it as a public domain work.” The 10 organizations opposing H.R. 801 emphasized that they fully respect copyright but that copyright first belongs to the author, and that

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NEWS | U.S. & International rooms and labs, as “making the largest investment in education in our nation’s history” because “America can’t out-compete the world tomorrow if our children are being out-educated today.”

Court Says Book Ban Isn’t Censorship

Plaintiffs are examining their legal options after a federal appeals court rejected February 5 their challenge of a 2006 order from the board of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools to remove a children’s book about contemporary life in Cuba. The three-judge panel instructed a district court to lift its preliminary injunction on the districtwide removal of Vamos a Cuba and its English-language translation A Visit to Cuba. Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, stated February 5 that the civil-liberties group would “move forward to protect free speech in America’s public schools through one of the multiple legal options that are available.” Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, told American Libraries, “Naturally we are disappointed with this decision. The book ban is un-

constitutional, and we will continue to support the ACLU’s efforts to return the books to the shelves of the Miami-Dade school libraries.” ALA’s Freedom to Read Foundation had filed an amicus curiae brief for the plaintiffs in ACLU of Florida v. Miami-Dade School Board, along with Reforma and other groups. In a 2–1 vote, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the school board’s action did not violate the First Amendment. However, the lone dissenting judge, Charles R. Wilson, characterized the school board’s ban of Vamos, along with the other 23 unchallenged books in the “A Visit to . . .” series, as “an offense” to the First Amendment.

Protection Urged for Gaza Cultural Heritage

The International Committee of the Blue Shield (ICBS) issued a statement February 18 deploring the loss of human lives and the destruction of cultural heritage that has recently taken place in the Palestinian Territories and the State of Israel, in particular in the Gaza area. Headquartered in the Netherlands and founded in 1996 “to work to protect the world’s cultural heritage threatened by wars and natural disasters,” ICBS is calling on all parties involved in the conflict “to be respectful of the cultural property in the region” but is taking “no position on any other issue relating to conflicts in the region.” Signed by ICBS President Julien Anfruns, the statement goes on to say that there have been reports that two municipal libraries in Amoghazi and Juhur-el-Deek have been completely destroyed and that the libraries of the Islamic University and the Tal el-Hawa branch of al-Aqsa University are severely damaged. “Sadly we have to assume that civil records have been destroyed in the violence of the recent period,” Anfruns notes.

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spend the stimulus, Sheketoff told American Libraries that librarians “need to start talking to their governors to make sure the governors know to direct funds to libraries.” She added that the Washington Office has set up a website (www.ala .org/knowyourstimulus) to provide information on how librarians can benefit from the stimulus. ALA President Jim Rettig said that although the final version of the legislation did not contain all the provisions that libraries had wanted, many opportunities remain for libraries to deliver much-needed services. “Working through this expansive and vitally important piece of legislation was no easy task for Congress and the White House, and I am grateful to see libraries are included in this effort to put our nation on the road to recovery,” he said. “I believe we now have a responsibility to reach out to our governors and state officials to highlight the funding available to libraries through this bill and to advocate that investing that funding in libraries is a wise and efficient use of taxpayer dollars during this difficult economic time.” Before signing the bill, President Obama noted the building of libraries, along with 21st-century class-

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ALA adopted a resolution at its January Midwinter Meeting in Denver calling for the protection of libraries and archives in Gaza and Israel and urging the U.S. government to support the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield in upholding the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (AL, Mar., p. 54).

Alternative System Rates Public Libraries

Created for Reed Business Information’s Library Journal by Keith Curry Lance and Ray Lyons, the LJ Index of Public Library Service is a new rating system sponsored by Baker and Taylor’s Bibliostat, web-based statistical analysis software for public libraries. LJ Editor in Chief Francine Fialkoff calls it “better than Hennen,” referring to the HAPLR ranking system created by Thomas J. Hennen and published regularly in American Libraries since 1999. This first edition of the LJ Index is based on 2006 public library statistical data published by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. It

of all: public service.” Their index is rates U.S. public libraries with total expenditures of $10,000 or more that designed to redress that perceived shortcoming. serve populations of at least 1,000. There are many differences beRatings are based on four per-capita service indicators: library visits, cir- tween the HAPLR rankings and the LJ Index, Hennen told culation, program atLibrary Journal AL, “but the fundatendance, and public mental difference is internet computer Editor-in-Chief that HAPLR includes use. Only libraries Francine Fialkoff input measures while that report all four calls the index the LJ Index does not. statistical indicators received an LJ Index “better than Hennen.” The LJ Index looks at only one side of the score. library service equation, while LJ Index ratings divide libraries HAPLR looks at both sides.” Hennen into nine peer comparison groups said the new index winds up saying based on total operating expenditures. Within each group the highest that input measures such as staffing, materials budget, and funding levels scoring libraries are recognized using 5-star, 4-star, and 3-star desig- are not essential to the measurement of the all-important output: nations. Each star-rating group public service. contains 10 libraries, except for the $30 million and above group, for which each star-rating contains five Wall Street Journal libraries. Star ratings are based on Closes Its Library scores. The Wall Street Journal announced Lance and Lyons claim that “by February 5 that it would close its combining and weighting so many news research library on March 23. variables, from input stats like Leslie A. Norman, who heads the lifunding to output data like circulabrary, said in a posting on the tion, the [Hennen] rankings obNewsLib online discussion group scured the most important measure that she and News Assistant Ed Ra-

| american libraries

From the award-winning PBS series American Experience, the five-part We Shall Remain premieres April 13. The landmark production aims to establish Native American history as an essential part of American history by examining 300 years of pivotal events from the Native perspective. ALA Immediate Past President Loriene Roy served as a key advisor for the series. An Event Kit for Libraries, designed to help librarians develop programs and discussion forums about issues related to the indigenous peoples in their area, has been mailed to public libraries nationwide. Visit www.pbs.org/ weshallremain for details.

april 2009

we shall remain debuts April 13 on PBs

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NEWS | U.S. & International mos had received their termination notices that day. Norman wrote, “When I asked who will do research for the reporters, I was told, ‘No one.’ The reporters will probably be using a Lexis product called Due Diligence Dashboard.” She added that “it cannot replace the knowledge about how to research using all the tricks we’ve learned over the years. We figure that the reporters will probably spend 10 times our compensation trying to do their own research.”

The library closure is part of a 14-person newsroom job reduction announced by the Journal, Editor and Publisher reported February 11. In an e-mail to the publication, Journal spokesman Robert Christie stated, “Yes, we are closing the library. It is regrettable. Our reporters do have access to multiple databases including Factiva and this migration to digital databases . . . has been happening for many years.” In a NewsLib posting the next day that thanked colleagues for their

words of support, Norman noted that many Journal reporters “have called wondering what they are supposed to do after the library closes. They told me how important my research was to their stories. I didn’t know I meant so much to them.” Norman, an assistant librarian who has been running the library since her predecessor left in 2007, has been at the Journal since 2005, with four years’ prior experience at the Bloomberg library, according to E&P. z

Global Reach SCotland

UNIted KINGDOM

Muslims have complained that the Koran is often displayed on the lower shelves in libraries, a practice deemed offensive because of their belief that the holy book should be placed above “commonplace things.” Library officials in Leicester have been told by the Museums, Libraries, and Archives Council to keep all holy books, including the Bible, on the top shelves in the interests of equality. But some Christian charities worry it will put the Bible out of the reach and sight of many users, and other critics express concern that the books will be treated as objects to revere rather than books to read.—The Daily Telegraph, Feb. 18. 3

The city archives building in Cologne, Germany, suddenly fell apart around 2 p.m. March 3. City officials said two persons were missing and presumed dead. Eberhard Illner, a former city archivist, said the collapse, which took about 30 seconds, was a “catastrophe, not just for the city of Cologne but for the history of Europe.” Volunteers have already pulled close to 9,000 documents out of the basement and offices of employees, but many of the repository’s 65,000 invaluable holdings, some dating as far back as the 10th century, may be lost forever. Officials believe the collapse could be related to the construction of an adjacent subway line.—Deutsche Welle, Mar. 3–4; Der Spiegel, Mar. 4.

A remarkable library, run by the Nicofeli Youth Club, is promoting a reading culture and bringing the community together in the Kibera slums of Nairobi. The library is the brainchild of Chicago photographer and designer Ron Reason, who visited the distressed neighborhood in 2008 and was inspired by the beauty he found there to raise $1,400 to send back, along with book donations for the children.—Nairobi Standard, Feb. 14.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Canadian writer Margaret Atwood issued a mea culpa February 21, explaining that she may have been too hasty in canceling her February 17 appearance at the inaugural Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature in Dubai. Atwood had heard that a book by British author Geraldine Bedell, The Gulf Between Us, had been banned because one of its characters was a gay sheik. However, the book was only one of many that had simply not been invited. Atwood made an appearance at the festival via satellite link.— Toronto Globe and Mail, Feb. 23; The Independent (U.K.), Mar. 6.

PAKISTAN

The Education Ministry has begun to set up small libraries in various neighborhoods of Islamabad in order to promote reading and literacy. Ministry official Muhammad Nazir said March 1 that four libraries had already been established and two others were planned.—Lahore Daily Times, Mar. 2.

CHINA

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions opened a Chinese-language center March 3 in the National Library in Beijing. The center will translate IFLA documents, press releases, and papers into Chinese. Alex Byrne, former IFLA president, said the center would help the organization communicate more easily with its counterparts in Asia. The library’s Yan Xiangdong will serve as director.—Xinhua, Mar. 6.

american libraries

april 2009

GERMANY

KENYA

Some 200 books were seriously 2 3 7 damaged in the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh 5 6 after a 20-year-old sprinkler 4 pipe on the top story failed, causing 5,000 liters of water to run through all 12 floors. The potentially catastrophic incident late on the evening of February 26 forced 30 library staff to work through the night to clear standing water, and to spend the day beginning the task of drying out the affected volumes. An additional 4,000 bound volumes and 500–600 manuscript volumes and boxes were affected and moved for drying.—The Times, Feb. 28.

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Interview | News

NEWSMAKER: Yohannes Gebregeorgis

ise behind Ethiopia Reads?

libraries. This is when I first thought that I should do something.

YOHANNES GEBREGEORGIS: Ethio-

pia Reads was founded to promote reading and literacy by developing public and school libraries and by publishing books in Ethiopian languages. Other activities include the annual Ethiopian Children’s Book Week and the biannual Golden Kuraz Award for the best children’s book published in Ethiopia. Annually, we also have the Star Reader Award for the best readers in that particular year and the Ethiopia Reads Bookathon. What made you want to go back to your native land and begin this proj-

versity of Texas at Austin, I traveled to Ethiopia for the first time in 10 years and found out that the places called libraries were really very pitiful. Most of the books were old and raggedy. I saw thousands of children playing on neighborhood streets with rag balls and discarded tin cans. There were no parks, playgrounds, or

libraries, aiding children? The libraries have helped thousands of Ethiopian children become readers. Their self-image has been boosted; they now see possibilities in their future, that knowledge would free them from poverty and other ills, and that reading is a humanizing and a positive activity that would help them understand themselves, their society, and the world at large. Our libraries have given children a safe, clean, and well-lit place, where they are respected. For the first time, they have books in their homes and the availability of library resources. Are parents happy that the children are getting these kinds of services? Parents are very happy because

they know that their kids are safe and are reading. Although the primary focus is on reading and enhancing reading abilities, we also allow them

villages. In 2005, we established the

Rural Libraries and Literacy Development Project with a reading center in Awassa as well as a tent library in a nearby village and our first Donkey Mobile Library that has now grown to four. We also published our first bilingual book, which was given out to over 5,000 children. We have recently added a Portable Library Program, a boxed library targeted toward smaller rural schools that don’t have the space for a regular library. The boxed set of about 200 or 300 books fits in a principal’s office and can be carried or wheeled into classes Were you surprised at the recognition from CNN? Yes, I was sur-

prised, pleasantly, and I started asking myself, “What have I done? What has my organization done to garner such worldwide recognition?” I came to understand of this recognition that it’s a testament to the importance of the work we do for our country’s development. How can your library colleagues in the U.S. and internationally help you? Librarians, teachers, and schoolchildren worldwide are our most ardent supporters. We need more librarians and teachers supporting and advocating for our work. We also need volunteers. Librarians and teachers know how to change the world. z

Photo: Courtesy of CNN

ect? After I graduated from the Uni-

How are the projects, especially the

Tell us about your outreach to rural

april 2009

American Libraries: What is the prem-

to play, to dance, to paint, and to do anything that would enhance their creativity and their imagination.

rowing up in rural Ethiopia with very little access to books, Yohannes Gebregeorgis was 19 years old the first time he picked up a book for pleasure. This experience helped him become a literacy advocate, a children’s book author, and founder of the nonprofit Ethiopia Reads, based in Denver and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He came to the United States in 1981 seeking political asylum. After receiving an MLIS, he left his job as a children’s librarian at San Francisco Public Library with 15,000 donated books and opened a children’s library on the first floor of his Addis Ababa home. Today, the Shola Children’s Library records an average of 60,000 visits per year. In 2008, he was selected from more than 3,000 individuals as one of the top 10 “CNN Heroes” of the year for “championing children.”

american libraries

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Technology | News

Amazon Lets Publishers Silence Kindle Audio to go into large print instantly,” Mates said, which expands the reading possibilities for people with visual impairments because many print books do not currently otherwise have large-print versions. The large print feature has not faced the protests generated by the text-to-speech feature.

In circulation

Sparta (N.J.) Public Library bought two Kindles to circulate when they were originally released in 2007 (AL, May 2008, p. 46) and they remain popular. Assistant Director Diane Lapsley told American Libraries that “the units are never in the building unless they are waiting to be picked up.” The library has also bought a Kindle 2 for patron use, although it is not yet in circulation. Lapsley said the library’s experience has been “nothing but positive.” Users are allowed to download one book per checkout at the library’s expense; patrons who purchase more would be responsible for the cost, but none have yet. And, while some have questioned the library’s right to circulate Kindles with books already loaded, Lapsley said she made about two dozen calls to Amazon and never received a response from the company. “It’s really a nice tool to use,” Lapsley said, noting that several patrons have bought Kindles for their own use after trying them at the library. The Kindle 2’s text-to-speech feature was “not a deciding factor” in the library’s decision to purchase, but Lapsley observed that “There would have been patrons who would have benefited.” —G.L.

american libraries

april 2009

mazon released verfeature if they are in the driver’s sion 2 of its Kindle seat.” e-book reader FebAmazon’s statement also noted ruary 24 to fanfare that it is in the audio book business over improvements over the through its Audible and Brilliance previous incarnation and consubsidiaries, and argued that the troversy over a feature that context-to-speech would serve as a gateverts text to spoken words. way for consumers to seek out proProtest of the text-to-speech fea- fessionally narrated audio books and ture came from the 9,000-member ultimately grow the market. Authors Guild. “Kindle 2 is being Not all authors concur with the sold specifically as a new, improved, guild’s take. “If there’s one thing multimedia verAmazon has demonsion of books— strated, it’s that it “The mechanics every title is an plans on selling seve-book and an to get to the [text- eral bazillion metric audio book rolled tons of audiobooks,” to-speech] feature wrote Cory Doctorow into one,” wrote Authors Guild on the Boing Boing aren’t accessible President Roy blog February 25. “To themselves. You’d accuse them of setting Blount Jr. in a New York Times to destroy [the auhave to have some out op-ed February diobook market] just 24. “Whereas e- vision to make doesn’t pass the gigbooks have yet to gle-test.” them work. win mainstream Barbara Mates, enthusiasm, au—Barbara Mates special populations dio books are a librarian at Cleveland billion-dollar market, and growPublic Library and past-president ing…. Income from audio books of ALA’s Association of Specialized helps not inconsiderably to keep and Cooperative Library Agencies, authors, and publishers, afloat.” suggested that while the text-toAmazon reined in the text-tospeech feature may be beneficial for speech feature February 27, anpeople with reading disabilities nouncing that it would allow such as dyslexia, it wouldn’t necespublishers to disable the feature on sarily be a boon to visual accessibila title-by-title basis. The company’s ity. “The mechanics to get to the statement asserted that “Kindle 2’s feature aren’t accessible themexperimental text-to-speech feature selves,” she told American Libraries. is legal: no copy is made, no deriva- “You’d have to have some vision to tive work is created, and no performake them work.” mance is being given . . . . Of more value to people with visuNevertheless, we strongly believe al impairments, she added, was the many rights holders will be more Kindle’s adjustable text sizes. “This comfortable with the text-to-speech Kindle gives the ability for any book

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News | Technology

. . . and Twitter through Time The Historical Tweets blog (historicaltweets.com) makes amusing guesses at how major events might have been relayed on Twitter. JohannesG, for example, wrote “Finally finished invention. Disappointed to learn that no one can read.” Theories of how Twitter might have evolved before movable type are, sadly, outside the site’s scope.

Adventure at Her Fingertips

Seven-year-old Carmen Chavez ponders an adventure puzzle on the new Advanced Workstations in Education computer in Hancock County (Ind.) Public Library’s children’s room February 18. The Indiana State Library and the Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded an AWE grant to the library, which provided funding for two workstations with bilingual earlylearning software packages.

Browser as OS? Microsoft Research has tested a web browser called Gazelle that is constructed to act like an operating system, ReadWriteWeb reported February 22. The goal is improved security, achieved by separating the browser and any plug-ins and requiring communication between them to be mediated by the browser kernel. There is no guarantee that Gazelle will be developed further, but Microsoft Research concluded that “The implementation and evalua-

NPR Library Blog National Public Radio’s library has started As a Matter of Fact (www.npr.org/ blogs/library/), a blog covering “everything from pop-culture insanity and weird pronunciations to

Talking over Twitter . . . Olivia Mitchell provided advice for presenting to a tweeting audience on the Pistachio blog (pistachioconsulting.com) February 23. Among her suggestions: Recognize that typing is a sign of interest, monitor the Twitter backchannel during the presentation, and answer the questions that appear on Twitter.

april 2009

Ephemera Preserved The Council on Library and Information Resources has awarded a $247,738 Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives grant to four San Francisco institutions to support the California Ephemera Project. The California Historical Society; the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society; the San Francisco Public Library; and the Society of California Pioneers will collaborate to build a searchable online catalog linking the ephemera collections of all four institutions. “The ephemera files are some of San Francisco Public Library’s most heavily used collections, but people don’t know they exist until they come into the History Center and ask for help,” said City Archivist Susan Goldstein.

Library as Movie Studio Sewickley (Pa.) Public Library Young Adult Librarian Kelly Rottmund has created “Movie Stars @ The Library,” a program where teens can use the library’s camera to make their own films after school, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported March 5. The young filmmakers have thus far created a murder mystery, a dance video, and a comedy involving Pokemon and communists.

the history of NPR and libraries in the news.”

Digital Music Software Indiana University has released Variations, an open source software package to create a digital music library system. Variations allows college and university libraries and music schools to digitize audio and score materials from their own collections and provide them to students and faculty online. Users can create bookmarks and playlists, and libraries can set up access rules based on their own institutional policies.

tion of our Internet Explorer– based prototype shows promise of a practical multiprincipal OS-based browser in the real world.”

american libraries

Tech News in Brief

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TECHNOLOGY | Internet Librarian

At the Last Minute There’s a method to students’ procrastination

digital and otherwise, so they can afford to wait a while; those at smaller places seem to recognize their options are fewer and thus get started sooner.

Don’t take offense

This sort of thing would rub a lot of us—and instructors and parents, no doubt—the wrong way, partly on professional grounds and partly because, well, we weren’t that sort of student, and they should care more and pay attention more and get more out of their assignments. But if we truly want to be student- or learner-centered, then engineering services to meet their needs, situations, and work styles has to actually mean something instead of just looking good in accreditation documents or glossy brochures. This is all still preliminary stuff, and more and deeper investigations are forthcoming that should shed greater light. For now, it would behoove us to give these ideas serious consideration, sooner rather than later (so to speak). The coup de grâce? Their major finding so far is that, paradoxically, “Research seems to be far more difficult to conduct in the digital age than it did in previous times.” Why? Too much stuff, too many kinds of stuff, and it’s hard to find. This has been true, off and on, since Alexandria . . . but that’s another story. z Joseph Janes is associate professor in the Information School of the University of Washington in Seattle. Send ideas to intlib@ischool.washington.edu.

american libraries

april 2009

y deadline for these they use Wikipedia for could have columns is the 20th been said a generation ago about the of each month, Encyclopedia Americana (gives citatwo months before tions and timelines, builds confithey appear, so I’m writing this dence, etc.). They understand and April missive in mid-February share concerns about accuracy, but (the 16th, for the record). I believe they are able to assess crediknow that the crack American bility (including the use of WikipeLibraries staff will back me up dia’s markers like “this article needs when I say that I’m always right additional citations”). They know, on time each month without fail. largely, that it’s not a place to finish Okay, once in a great while, a day but it’s a place to start. Smart. late. Or so. Ahem. Also, most of them—at least I figured I better get my cards on 80%—procrastinate, waiting until the table when writing a column the last day or two to start working about procrastination. My musings on 80% of their papers. Sometimes, on this were prothat’s due to Students use voked by a prelimscheduling or Wikipedia as an inary report on workload isundergraduate sues; often, orientation device, students’ percepthough, it’s to to get the big tions of their own provide time picture on paper topics. research, from a to contemproject on inforplate or stew mation literacy (www.projectinfolit on the topic, or for inspiration, mo.org) being run by Alison Head and tivation, focus, and even adrenaline Mike Eisenberg, and funded by Pro- for the work to come. Quest. (Disclaimer: Mike’s an old What might our services look like friend and mentor, not to mention a if we took these tendencies seriousformer dean of mine, but I don’t ly? Friday (Saturday? Sunday? Lateowe him anything at present.) night?) reference services and There’s lots to chew on in this re- paper-writing workshops? “Moving port, and it would make valuable beyond Wikipedia” sessions? Staff reading for librarians of all variettraining and faculty liaison based on ies. I seized on a couple of findings: what students actually do, rather First, students use Wikipedia as an than what we think or hope they do? orientation device, to get the big Reducing midweek, low-traffic serpicture on paper topics and to get vices to support such initiatives? the right words to use in later Students were also remarkably searching. canny about their environments: Other than currency and interface Those at large institutions know issues, much of what students say they’ve got access to gobs of stuff,

by Joseph Janes

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In Practice | TECHNOLOGY

From Desktop to Cloud Top

There are many benefits to having one’s applications live on the web instead of on a desktop. The first is not having to install and update software. Desktop applications have to be installed on one’s computer, updated when there are security patches, and upgraded when a new version is released. Web-based applications are updated by the company running the service. This allows web-based software providers to make incremental product improvements instead of waiting for the next big software release. Another huge benefit is portability. Most of us these days have at least a home computer and work computer. Others have more than that, including mobile devices. Web applications make content accessible from any device capable of accessing the internet. No longer is it

trapped in a single machine. We can also develop content online collaboratively. There still are some drawbacks to cloud computing. In most cases, you cannot access content “living” in the cloud when you’re offline. Google Gears (gears.google.com) has enabled some applications to be downloaded to your computer for such times, but most cloud applications do not have this functionality. Security and privacy issues are also concerns. Websites have been hacked and people’s data stolen, and sometimes we’re not privy to the privacy measures that a company hosting our content is taking to protect us. The same goes for how the company backs up our data. Whether your head is already in the cloud or you’re tethered to your desktop applications, cloud computing is becoming an increasingly important phenomenon that should allow many libraries to extend their reach online and enable collaborative work in ways never thought possible just a few years ago. z MEREDITH FARKAS is head of instructional initiatives at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont, and part-time faculty at San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science. She blogs at Information Wants to Be Free and created Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki. Contact her at librarysuccess@gmail.com.

It’s not just about what we can do without desktop applications either. From the IT end of things, it’s all about scalability. Organizations no longer need to invest in a server or new software when developing something new for the web or maintaining what they have. With cloud computing, IT staff can store data on a pay-per-use basis and in some cases can even outsource the maintenance of software through a SaaS (software as a service) model. For those of us outside the IT world, cloud computing is all about what we can now do on the web. I’m amazed by what I can do online today that I could only accomplish

More silver linings

Web applications make content accessible from any device capable of accessing the internet.

april 2009

The sky’s the limit

with a desktop program just five years ago: web-based calendars, to-do lists, email, office and bookmarking applications, and more. Web applications that we needed to install on a server are now available as hosted services, accessible to anyone. We can store the content of our hard drives on the web, making it accessible from anywhere. And the beauty of all these web-based applications is that most of the content is easily sharable, enabling us to work collaboratively in ways our desktop applications never allowed.

n a world where we seem to be dealing with a baffling assortment of technology buzzwords, one you will probably hear thrown around a lot in 2009 is cloud computing. While the name may sound a little funny, it refers to a very important change in how we are using our computers and the internet. In the past, most of what we did with our computers involved desktop applications and storing files on a hard drive. With cloud computing, your workstation is just a device to access the web, and everything you need and do with your computer is online. The sort of applications you used before are now available on the web, which really changes what we can do with those programs and with other people.

by Meredith Farkas

american libraries

Cloud computing comes of age

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3/17/2009 2:52:12 PM

OPINION | Public Perception

How the World Sees Us “The amputation of a treasured local library system’s branches has been called an ‘unintended consequence’ of the state property tax caps. If so, then legislators failed to properly study the law they passed. They’ve let down a steady stream of people, from all walks of life, who turned to those libraries for help, enlightenment, and recreation.” Editorial criticizing the Indiana legislature for passing limits on property taxes that led to the closing of the Meadows branch of the Vigo County (Ind.) Public Library, Terre Haute Tribune-Star, Feb. 21.

“It’s like the air we breathe, the water we drink. We need libraries. They are treasure houses. It’s through reading that we actually access higher forms of thought.” Children’s author MICHAEL ROSEN discussing the importance of libraries and their role in education on the BBC’s The Daily Politics, Jan. 27.

“I didn’t even know we had a library. I wondered if that is something that should be included in the budget.”

SARA JESSICA PARKER sharing her “tips for a chic and gracious life” in Vanity Fair,

for the volunteer-staffed library’s supplies and materials. “Sharpsburg Council holds

Columnist KATHA POLLITT on stimulus

STEVE DOERHOEFER, speaking at a Sharpsburg, Georgia, town council meeting,

budget hearing,” Newnan (Ga.) Times-

funding, “Stimulating Reading,” The Na-

Herald, Jan. 6.

tion, Jan. 22.

“For centuries we’ve looked to libraries “Bookstores are closing, people aren’t as historic evidence of cultured civilizareading. You’ve heard it all before. But tions: will electronic texts fill that bill for is it possible that reading is changing— future generations? While I’ll admit that that readers are changing?” Chicago Tribune Magazine editor ELIZAI’m intrigued by the Kindle, . . . when I BETH TAYLOR introducing the magazine’s first settle into my comfy chair ready to March 8 cover story on comic books and read with that new degraphic novels. vice, I’ll probably feel as if I had a phantom limb.” New York Times blogger “It’s not about the book itself. It’s that ALLISON ARIEFF opining books like that can get into my daughabout the future of electer’s hands.”

In his current exhibition, Bookshelf File Cards, on display at the Leo Kamen Gallery in Toronto, Manitoba artist Cliff Eyland explores his lifelong obsession with books and art. These paintings—the size of book file cards—are reminiscent of his past work, where he hid 3-by-5-inch paintings inside books at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design library. Inkjet on paper, mounted to MDF, 3-by-5 inches, 2008. Courtesy of artist Cliff Eyland and the Leo Kamen Gallery, Toronto, Ontario.

tronic books in her piece

SHIRLEY WALLER, speaking in defense of

on book purveyor William

removing the novel My Brother Sam Is

Stout and his eponymous

Dead from her 9-year-old daughter’s

design and architecture

school in Muscogee County (Ga.) School

bookstore in San Francisco,

District, Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer,

By Design blog, New York

Feb. 20, 2009.

Times, Feb. 23.

“E-books are for chumps.” “If the government can bail out the banks that are so deeply implicated in our current troubles—and is about to

Xkcd webcomic characters discuss the new Amazon Kindle 2, released in February. “Why get a Kindle?” asks one character. “One reason,” replies the other. “Free cellular web access,” xkcd, Feb. 24. z

american libraries

april 2009

March 2009.

Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle, describing his goal of achieving universal access to all knowledge, in the Economist, March 7, 2009. give them another huge helping of cash . . . why can’t it support libraries and schools and publishing by stocking the public bookshelves with inviting new books and hiring staff to keep the doors open?”

asking about $2,450 in the town’s budget

“Use your local library. So few people do anymore. And if you are a parent, introduce your children to their neighborhood library. It will give them a real sense of independence to have their own library card and enjoy borrowing books.”

“I’m not interested in building an empire. Our idea is to build the future.”

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On My Mind | OPINION

Separate Means Unequal

Plunking technical services down in outlying areas is, I believe, the result of yet another crisis in cataloging. There are both pragmatic and conceptual problems facing library workers and managers. There’s a debate within metadata circles about coping with interrelated challenges: increasing amounts of digital information, rising patron expectations, and declining cataloging budgets. Catalogers have not de-

april 2009

Relocation rationales

The analytical are members of a veloped learning commuinformation deabilities nity and find ensigns that are fast, of catalog flexible, and afjoyment in being librarians are fordable enough to part of the mix of scholarly life. compete with Ammore needed than ever. As contrarian azon and Google. as it may sound, catalog librarians For these reasons and others, catalogers are being relocated away from can only recover lost ground by finding work outside of their dethe “hub” of campus life. partments. Technical services Cataloging theorists and national librarians can no longer afford to leaders have not ridden to the rescue. The development of a new cata- wait for work to come to them. In the good old days, print materials loging code, RDA (Resource arrived at my desk via book trucks Description and Access), is causing or I worked with data that patiently bitter frustration, and its release has been delayed more than once. waited for me in a computer file. This strategy is no longer effective, As if this weren’t bad enough, the and catalogers must grab work when Library of Congress has arguably and where they see it. Traditional abandoned its leadership role in book-in-hand cataloging is being technical services; for example, it marginalized—some would say no longer offers authority records deprofessionalized—within acafor series to the nation’s libraries. demic institutions, but the analytiThe rationale for moving catalogcal abilities of catalog librarians are ers away from the researchers they more needed than ever. serve is largely a question of footCatalogers can think strategically print: Institutions want the work areas of technical services staff. At Yale about information design, but unwe were informed that the core mis- fortunately this fact seems widely unknown outside of cataloging desion of the central campus in New partments. Technical services Haven was to facilitate face-to-face librarians can best survive the curinteractions between teachers and rent climate by looking for new instudents. Since technical services tellectual friends, expanding their are viewed as extrinsic to this core skill set, and taking risks. The immission, we are being relocated. portant point is for catalog librarLarge institutions increasingly want ians to assertively look for all of the central campus area to be, opportunities in the nooks and as one of my colleagues charmingly crannies of their workplace. z terms it, “mission space.” All library workers believe their work space is mission space. AcaKATHERINE C. ADAMS is catalog librarian at demic librarians typically feel they Yale University in Connecticut.

atalog workers are running for cover. In large research libraries, technical services staff is being carted away from the central library campus to satellite locations. This recent trend is misguided and will harm both the end user and the library catalog. Institutions such as New York Public Library, Harvard, and Yale (my employer) are separating technical services librarians from their core patron base. Because catalogers describe materials with particular end-user groups in mind, technical services are the flip side of public services. That is, catalogers create information structures that help patrons find what they are looking for and explore new fields of information. Cataloging theory is fun, but I see my job as creating road maps to information. Importantly, isolating catalogers from patrons eliminates the exercise of the cataloger’s judgment. One can’t tailor a bibliographic record to an unknown patron.

by Katherine C. Adams

american libraries

Decrying the marginalization of technical services

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2009

LIB RAR DE Y S SHO I G N W CA S E

Projects submitted to this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Library Design Showcase balanced many types of sensitivities: to history, to technology, to the immediate surroundings, and to accessibility. In this issue, American Libraries highlights 23 new and renovated library facilities. For the first time, we are also publishing a digital supplement, which will include 50 additional projects plus features on moving, childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spaces, and green products. The digital supplement will be e-mailed to ALA members in April.

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april 2009

| american libraries 0409_Feature_Facilities.indd 31

MEDINA COUNTY (OHIO) DISTRICT LIBRARY

3/17/2009 4:27:32 PM

>> Medina Library

The renovation of the Medina Library tripled its size. Environmentally sensitive features include low-VOC carpet and paints, recycled upholstery, recycled-resin paneling, and large, low-e glass windows that reflect heat outside while reducing the amount of artificial light needed. Other accoutrements include fireplaces in the fiction area and the quiet reading room, a decorative glass mosaic mural of the county landscape, a window in the children’s department that looks into a working beehive, and 66 public computers. Renovation and Expansion David Milling Architects dmaa.com Size: 50,000 sq. ft. expansion, 76,000 sq. ft. total Cost: $20.4 million Photo: William H. Webb, Infinity Studio

James V. Brown Library To better serve area children and families, Lycoming County (Pa.) Library developed a downtown lot adjacent to the original library into the Kathryn Siegel Welch Children’s Wing. The three-story addition features a theme of “The Amazing Wilds,” which ties into northern Pennsylvania’s “The Pennsylvania Wilds” tourism theme. The first floor, devoted to children, features a maze at the center of the room with interactive activities and brightly colored shelving that helps children who can’t yet read traditional signs to navigate. The second floor is dedicated to teens and tweens, while the third floor houses the library’s adult literacy program, meeting and conference spaces, and the Friends’ bookstore.

Medina County (Ohio) District Library

Expansion Larson Design Group larsondesigngroup.com Size: 26,400 sq. ft. expansion Cost: $4.1 million Photo: Eric Stashak Photography

Lycoming County (Pa.) Library System

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3/17/2009 4:27:54 PM

Noe Valley/Sally Brunn Branch

american libraries

New Construction Harvard Jolly Architecture harvardjolly.com Size: 19,800 sq. ft. Cost: $4.9 million Photo: George Cott, Chroma Inc.

The new Oldsmar Public Library was designed to characterize “Old Florida” architecture. Key construction components include cast stone, painted stucco, and clay barrel tile roofing. The interior is adorned with paddle fans, pendant lights, stained wood beams, and natural light through clerestory windows.

Renovation and Expansion Carey & Co. Inc. Architecture careyandco.com Size: 286 sq. ft. expansion, 6,096 sq. ft. total Cost: $5.7 million Photo: David Wakely

Before renovation, this 1916 building had a number of serious problems: a low seismic rating, soiled and cracked exterior masonry, a leaky roof, worn interior finish, poor accessibility, and a spectacular main reading room marred by inappropriate fluorescent lighting and other intrusions. The rehabilitation protected the building’s noteworthy features—including the structure’s brick-and-terra-cotta facade, the interior marblelined staircase, and the popular community garden—while improving lighting, installing WiFi, and adding accessible restrooms and an elevator.

Oldsmar (Fla.) Public Library

april 2009

San Francisco Public Library

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Ocean City Branch Environmentally sensitive features at Ocean City’s new library include parking spaces located under part of the building to reduce the size of the heat island, a geothermal heat pump system, the use of native vegetation that requires little watering, and pervious paving. The building is clad in a combination of metal panels and cementitious siding/trim; the interior finish includes recycled carpets with low-VOC adhesives, bamboo floors in the circulation area, and exposed structural framing. New Construction BSA+A simpers.com Size: 12,691 sq. ft. Cost: $5.2 million Photo: Charles Uniatowski Photography/BSA+A

Worcester County (Md.) Library

The renovation of the 1930 Highland Park Library included upgrades to the lighting, windows, signage, and service desks. Custom features were designed to efficiently use space while remaining sensitive to the historic structure and style of architecture. Renovation Komatsu Architecture komatsu-inc.com Size: 5,700 sq. ft. Cost: $2.45 million Photo: Thomas McConnell

american libraries

april 2009

Highland Park (Tex.) Library

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3/17/2009 4:29:05 PM

0409_Feature_Facilities.indd 35

april 2009

Renovation SHP Leading Design shp.com Size: 25,000 sq. ft. Cost: $1.9 million Photo: Nikki Shoemaker

New Construction The Design Collaborative designcollaborative.cc Size: 31,500 sq. ft. Cost: $7.9 million Photo: The Design Collaborative and Alexandra R. Fenton

Hamilton Lane Library The renovation of the 143-year-old Lane Public Library was made possible by moving several backroom operations offsite. The space that freed up made possible a dedicated teen department, a quiet study area, a revitalized children’s department, and improved traffic flow in the building.

american libraries

The Pretlow Branch was designed for technology, with a 40-PC Adult Computer Center that can stay open after hours, a Teen Zone with 20 computers and a big-screen TV, and an Early Childhood Learning Center with 20 computers. Flat-screen monitors near the lobby broadcast news and library programming, while public meeting rooms are equipped for teleconferencing and distance-learning programs.

Lane Libraries, Hamilton, Ohio

Mary D. Pretlow Anchor Branch

Norfolk (Va.) Public Library

3/17/2009 4:29:48 PM

James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia

The design of the East Campus Library incorporates two main areas: a square-shaped core that contains traditional reading rooms, book stacks, and offices; and a curved “wing” that houses the open study areas. The building contains 45 group study rooms, including nine with LCD monitors, and a large flexible-use area with movable furniture and whiteboards. New Construction The Design Collective designcollective.com Size: 108,200 sq. ft. Cost: $31.1 million Photo: Michael Dersin, The Design Collective

Hockessin Public Library The 10,000-square-foot expansion of Hockessin Public Library takes the form of a glass pavilion, cantilevered so it floats over the neighboring flood plain. The addition, which houses the children’s library, overlooks a densely vegetated county park on one side and wetlands on another. Expansion ikon.5 architects ikon5architects.com Size: 12,000 sq. ft. expansion, 25,000 sq. ft. total Cost: $8.5 million Photo: James D’Addio

american libraries

april 2009

East Campus Library

New Castle County (Del.) Public Library

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Georgia Southern University, Statesboro

Zach S. Henderson Library

The renovated Henderson Library is the largest building on the university’s prominent east-west pedestrian corridor. Originally built as a precastconcrete box in 1972, the renovated library visually connects the historic buildings to the north of the library with the newer buildings along the walkway. Renovation and Expansion Cogdell & Mendrala Architects cogdellmendrala.com Size: 103,000 sq. ft. expansion, 235,000 sq. ft total Cost: $23.3 million Photo: Richard Leo Johnson/Atlantic Archives

Central Library

april 2009

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american libraries

Renovation Prozign Architects prozign.com Size: 268,663 sq. ft. Cost: $19.3 million Photo: Prozign Architects

Houston Public Library

The largest renovation in Houston Public Library’s history converted 12,600 square feet of administrative space into public space. It also doubled the size of the Kids Area, added a Teen Room, updated the IT infrastructure, and replaced old escalators with a Grand Staircase and upgraded elevators. Much of the furniture is reused from the original building, and other sustainable features include recycled-rubber flooring and motion-sensor light switches.

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United States Military Academy at West Point, New York Jefferson Hall Library and Learning Center Jefferson Hall is the first new academic building at West Point in more than 35 years. The design is intended to advance the campus’s 19th-century Military Gothic style to modern times, with more than 1,500 tons of granite cladding the building, sandstone window surrounds, a three-dimensional West Point arch at the main entry, and double-height windows that echo similar features in neighboring buildings. New Construction STV Inc. in collaboration with Holzman Moss Architecture stvinc.com/holzmanmoss.com Size: 141,000 sq. ft. Cost: $74.5 million Photo: Tom Kessler, courtesy of STV Inc. and Holzman Moss Architecture

april 2009

| american libraries

The Mahoney Library is the centerpiece of a campus expansion completed in fall 2008. The new building quadruples the space of the previous library, with 400 reader seats, 50 public computers, 24 media-viewing stations, eight group-study rooms, and a library-instruction classroom. Cultural and civic events will be hosted in a public reading room, which overlooks the new eastern quadrangle and connects to the main reading room by a gallery walk.

Herold Mahoney Library

Santa Rosa Junior College, Petaluma, California

New Construction TLCD Architecture tlcd.com Size: 34,734 sq. ft. Cost: $10.5 million Photo: Technical Imagery Studio

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Utah Valley University’s library is built for a student population projected to grow significantly—from 24,000 to 40,000 students in the next decade. The building has the capacity for 33% growth in its existing 221,000-volume print collection, as well as built-in physical and technological adaptability, with raised floors, flexible technology workstations, and universal design and planning. Featured spaces include social and family study areas adjacent to major entries; reading rooms occupying the fourth and fifth floors that provide views of desert, lake, and mountains; teaching labs; and a 150-seat lecture hall.

Utah Valley University Library, Orem

New Construction Alspector Architecture alspectorarchitecture.com Size: 190,000 sq. ft. Cost: $48 million Photo: Paul Warchol

California State University, Monterey Bay

Tanimura and Antle Family Memorial Library

The Tanimura and Antle Family Memorial Library was built to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Silver standard, with high-performance glass that filters out infrared light and reduces unwanted heat, water-saving landscaping and bathroom fixtures, and a high level of recycled content in the library’s carpet, tile, and building materials. New Construction EHDD Architecture ehdd.com Size: 136,151 sq. ft. Cost: $69 million Photo: Don Porter, CSUMB

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american libraries

april 2009

Polly Rosenbaum State Archives and History Building

The archive building was designed with colors and shapes reminiscent of a desert cliff face. Built primarily from 6-inch precast concrete, the facility includes two layers of roofing to prevent water penetration, a fan wall system to control the temperature throughout storage spaces, a humidity room used for document restoration, and a cold room and blast freezer to provide protection from insects. Financial shortfalls, however, have forced the library to make access by appointment only through the end of the fiscal year. New Construction DWL Architects + Planners dwlarchitects.com Size: 124,330 sq. ft. Cost: $28.7 million Photo: Neil Koppes, Koppes Photography

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Arizona State Library, Phoenix

University of California, Berkeley

Bancroft Library The rehabilitation of the Bancroft Library corrected several shortcomings of the original 1950 construction. The new building includes a sophisticated HVAC system with three air-filtering levels to eliminate dust, the university’s most advanced security system, the building’s first true instructional space, and an exhibit area four times larger than its predecessor. The renovation also made direct entry to the library possible for the first time; previously, patrons could only access the Bancroft library through another library to which it is attached. Renovation Ratcliff/Noll & Tam ratcliffarch.com/nollandtam.com Size: 129,651 sq. ft. Cost: n/a Photo: David Wakely

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Marshall High School Library Media Center

Marshall (Mich.) Public Schools

The renovation of Marshall High School’s library addressed safety and security issues by converting the original L-shaped space to a more open one with better sight lines. This visibility is maintained with shorter 42-inchtall bookcases, a new glass-walled computer lab, a glass-walled conference room, and two unwalled class group areas that each have pull-down screens on the wall and LCD projectors. The renovation relocated the entrance from a dead-end corridor to a hightraffic school lobby, and created two covered outdoor balcony reading areas. Renovation and Expansion Kingscott Associates Inc. kingscott.com Size: 3,400 sq. ft. expansion, 18,200 sq. ft. total Cost: $724,000 Photo: Kingscott Associates Inc.

St. Mary’s Episcopal School, Memphis, Tennessee

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New Construction Fleming/Associates/Architects P.C. flemingarchitects.com Size: 53,256 sq. ft. Cost: $9.0 million Photo: Rick Bostick/INVISION

The library occupies the first floor of a new three-story building for the school’s 4th- through 8th-graders. In honor of the building’s namesake, whose renowned nature photographs adorn the walls, the lobby features related motifs, including a metal-and-glass staircase resembling an unwinding roll of film, a terrazzo floor patterned like a camera aperture, and a translucent fiberglass ceiling panel representing a camera lens. The library itself features two computer labs, a distancelearning lab, eight self-checkout stations, and four study rooms with whiteboards and wireless internet access.

april 2009

Windland Smith Rice Library

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St. Agnes/St. Dominic Academy, Memphis, Tennessee

Veritas Research Center and Cybrary The Veritas Research Center serves students of all ages, from pre-K through grade 12. Distinct spaces within the facility are intended for varying age levels, and a distance-learning center that seats 60 is also open for community organizations. The Cybrary houses 30,000 print books and provides access to 37,000 more electronically; the reading area is located along the outer wall, with views of the outside provided by nearly full-height windows. New Construction Fleming/Associates/Architects P.C. flemingarchitects.com Size: 26,033 sq. ft. Cost: $4.8 million Photo: Rick Bostick/INVISION

Alexandria (Va.) Public Schools T. C. Williams High School

Highlights of the library serving Alexandriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest public high school include 20-foot-high, north-facing windows that provide light and a view of a green roof; a wireless network; and space to accommodate three classes simultaneously. While the library is smaller than the library in the previous school building, library usage has increased by more than 50% since the new building opened. New Construction Moseley Architects moseleyarchitects.com Size: 10,280 sq. ft. Cost: n/a Photo: Sisson Studios Inc.

Sierra Canyon School, Chatsworth, California Burtzloff Library The Burtzloff Library is the academic center of the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new Science and Humanities Building. Technical features include wireless access to electronic resources in all rooms, data ports at all study carrels, and a technology lab. The library has a 150-foot wall of curving windows overlooking the San Fernando Valley.

New Construction Parallax Associates parallaxassociates.com Size: 8,770 sq. ft. Cost: $2.5 million Photo: Tom Bonner

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Gentry (Ark.) Public Library

Gentry Public Library occupies a preexisting brick building that the community wanted to maintain. Existing columns were developed into lighting columns that also provide book display space, while the space’s existing pressed-metal ceiling was preserved. Marlon Blackwell Architect marlonblackwell.com Size: 11,970 sq. ft. Cost: $1.32 million Photo: Timothy Hursley

he following libraries are winners of the 2009 Library Building Awards, sponsored by the American Institute of Architects and ALA’s Library Leadership and Management Association. The biennial award recognizes distinguished accomplishment in library architecture by an architect licensed in the United States for any library in the U.S. or abroad. This year’s competition was open to all libraries completed since December 1, 2002.

The renovation of the Francis Martin Library transformed a dark, cheerless, outdated space to inspire and connect the members of the community. Reflective Barrisol forms a ceiling that folds away in some areas to increase height, while the diagonal shelf arrangement and curved walls create a dynamic space for children. 1100 Architect P.C. 1100architect.com Size: 4,000 sq. ft. Cost: $830,000 Photo: Timothy Furzer

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The new Chongqing Library is an urban complex that respects the culture of its 1947 predecessor while projecting a modern image. The building’s form is based on the Chinese architectural tradition of the courtyard and the multistory atrium halls of western libraries. The use of water in a sculptural reflecting pool symbolizes Chongqing’s location at the convergence of two of China’s most important rivers.

Perkins Eastman perkinseastman.com Size: 490,500 sq. ft. Cost: $38.6 million Photo: ZhiHui Gu/Courtesy Perkins Eastman

Chongqing (China) Library

Hennepin County Library

Minneapolis Central Library The Minneapolis Central Library is well-known for the metal “wing” hovering over the central Library Commons space. Flanking the Commons are two rectangular volumes with large open floors and no interior load-bearing walls. The library features dedicated spaces for many different groups, including a Children’s Library with materials in more than 30 languages, a teen center designed by teens, the New Americans Center for recent immigrants, and a major business-services department.

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Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects twbta.com Size: 67,984 sq. ft. Cost: $46.4 million Photo: Michael Moran

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The Starr Library reflects both campus design guidelines and the library’s Asian mission. The screen, an important element in traditional Asian architecture, was interpreted as an array of cast bronze grilles on the library’s exterior. Behind the grilles, perforated metal screens were installed to block almost half of the direct sunlight from entering the building, reducing the cooling load.

american libraries

C. V. Starr East Asian Library

University of California at Berkeley

april 2009

Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects pcparch.com Size: 353,000 sq. ft. Cost: $138.7 million Photo: Jeff Goldberg/ESTO

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Biblioteca Central Estatal Wigberto Jiménez Moreno, León, Guanajuato, Mexico The library is the first building of Forum Cultural Guantajuato, a 9.6-hectare municipal cultural center. The exterior was constructed in glass, painted steel, and white cantera, a variety of Mexican stone. Construction was planned to preserve existing tabachines and jacaranda trees, many of which are more than 50 years old.

Pei Partnership Architects ppa-ny.com Size: 92,570 sq. ft. Cost: $12 million Photo: Alberto Moreno Guzmán

Phoenix Public LibrarY

Palo Verde Library The Palo Verde Library occupies a new mixeduse building that also incorporates a community center and the existing public pool, recreational park, and ball field. The interior walls are faceted with recycled aspen oriented strand board panels that help the library meet acoustic requirements.

Gould Evans Associates/Wendell Burnette Architects gouldevans.com/wendellburnettearchitects .com Size: 16,000 sq. ft. Cost: $5.8 million Photo: Bill Timmerman

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Arabian Library The Arabian Library’s design reflects the desert slot canyons of Arizona. The main reading room is clad in acoustically absorbent perforated wood treatment that mitigates noise spillover from adjacent areas. The library is currently undergoing LEED certification. richärd+bauer architecture www.richard-bauer.com Size: 21,202 sq. ft. Cost: $7.4 million Photo: Mark Boisclair

Scottsdale (Ariz.) Public Library

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by Wanda Urbanska

Librarians can make a difference every day in many ways, as libraries move toward environmental friendliness

Greener A Greener You

Simple steps: David Siders commutes on foot to his job in Cincinnati. Facing page: A Chicago Public Library patron recycles old plastic bags as new shopping bags.

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hen I moved from Los Angeles to rural Appalachia in 1986, I was a freelance journalist and first-time author, anxious about what kind of library Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d find in my new hometown in North Carolina. After pulling up to the Mount Airy Public Library, I had to do a double-take. Sleek and contemporary, the library was more future-friendly than anything Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d ever seen. In fact, long before LEEDcertification standards were established and green building had become the new orthodoxy in construction, the $1.75 million, 13,750-square-foot facility was a national model for energy efficiency.

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april 2009

| american libraries

Designed by famed architect and solar energy advocate amining choices large and small throughout the system, Ed Mazria, the 1982 library incorporates passive solar and making choices and continuing to refine them. “There daylighting as its signature architectural features. The are many layers of the onion,” she says. “You can peel them welcoming open floor plan organized around the circula- forever.” tion desk from which staff can visually access 360 degrees One watershed event in that evolutionary journey ocfeatures natural light cascading from sawtooth clerestory curred in late 2008, when the library began what Schaper windows overhead, offering both a connection to the calls “a huge change in how we do technology.” With much outdoors and a sense of well-being. When monitored in of its technology ready for updating, the library replaced the first year of operation, the library used approxi- the 36 PCs used for the public access catalogs and walk-up mately one-sixth of the energy per square foot as its internet stations with thin clients. (Thin clients are lowcounterpart, a conventionally power PCs embedded built municipal building nearwith a scaled-down “Some librarians take their role as ecoby. What’s more, the aesthetiversion of Windows cally pleasing structure, with citizens even further, modeling personal that use one-tenth the its ageless, locally sourced behaviors to reduce their carbon footprint for power of a regular granite façade, contributes to PC.) To save even more colleagues, staff, and patrons.” the impression that the library energy, staff PCs and was built. . . yesterday. “People thin clients were prolove it,” exudes librarian Pat Gwyn. Newcomers always grammed to automatically turn on and off around library ask, incredulously, “So when was this built?” hours. Being off for 12 hours a day saves about 537,000 While building a green library may represent the larg- watt hours from the library’s electrical use daily. With each est public statement any community can make to show its energy-saving milestone the library achieves, new goals support for sustainability, a whole host of measures can are set to pare down usage even further. The next goal: be taken to move existing facilities in the right direction. replacing its servers with compact, energy-efficient blade American Libraries asked librarians around the country servers. Once that conversion is complete, Schaper estiabout specific practices they employ to be good environ- mates that the library will enjoy a 66% reduction in mental stewards and found answers ranging from energy- server power consumption. savings policies to green-cleaning techniques to In Houston, where in 2004 the city set LEED certificaeducational programming. However, even the “greenest tion as the standard for major new building, replacement of the green” view the process as a journey; none felt that facilities and major renovation projects, the Houston they had arrived. Public Library (HPL) system is working aggressively to implement LEED-inspired green policies throughout the Fayetteville takes the LEED system. The system recently instituted an energy-effiWhen the doors opened to the new LEED-certified silver ciency awareness campaign called “Reduce the use of elibrary in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in October 2004, Ex- juice”—a competition amongst its 42 “points of service” ecutive Director Louise Schaper admits that the systems to see which one could reduce energy use most. weren’t yet in place for the library to be green from the “We’re trying to get at least 10% reduction at each locainside out. However, the building itself both inspired and tion,” says Wendy Heger, HPL’s assistant director of planset the stage for their “educational evolution”—a process ning and facilities. Recommended strategies include that continues to this day—of phasing in green practices switching heating and cooling to timer systems that phase throughout the facility. The process has library staff ex- down upon closing; eliminating such items as individual

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GREEN PROGRAMMING “A REALLY HOT TOPIC”

discourage printing from computers by setting page limits and/or charging patrons per page. Shifting from paper newsletters and postcards to e-newsletters and e-mail announcements is an increasingly common paper-reduction strategy, as is requiring printing on front and back of sheets of paper. In some eco-friendly libraries, used paper is cut into small pieces for reference desks and scratch paper, then recycled once used. While recycling white paper, newsprint, and magazines is de rigueur in most libraries, some dedicated staff and volunteers go a step further by removing covers from discarded books so that the printed pages inside can be recycled. “It’s important to recycle,” says Evelyn Holzwarth, library administrator of the Hastings Public Library in Michigan, which was built on a brownfield site and touts numerous green features, from a vegetative roof to low-flow commodes. “But the other side of the coin is that it’s important to buy materials containing recycled content.” Toward that end, Holzwarth says that she buys copy paper, toilet paper, and paper towels containing recycled content, even if it means paying more. Likewise, in an effort to lower the library’s carbon footprint and support the local economy, staff makes every effort to buy products in Hastings.

Recycling @ your library

coffee pots and space heaters; and asking staff to unplug inactive equipment after each use, eliminating the socalled “phantom load” effect, by which standby items consume up to 5% of the power of the item when operational. For those locations without occupancy sensors on the lighting equipment, staff is asked to be mindful of flipping the switch upon entering and exiting a room. Branch representatives meet quarterly to compare results, and winning locations are awarded recognition certificates and goodie bags filled with eco-friendly gifts. Reducing, reusing, and recycling paper tends to be the first order of business when a library goes green. To reduce the use of paper, many libraries

Numerous libraries have moved beyond internal recycling to assuming a more public role in the battle to curb the effects of global warming. Chicago Public Library houses battery-recycling drop-off canisters at all of its 79 locations. In Cincinnati, a community recycling bin accepting co-mingled paper, plastic, glass, cans, and cardboard was placed at the main public library downtown, allowing patrons and staff to do one-stop “shopping”—and dropping. “The downtown residents are thrilled with the convenience,” says David Siders, Popular Library manager at the downtown library. And library staff uses it significantly, bringing their recyclables from home. He says that of the four recycling bin locations downtown, the library’s is “the most heavily used.” The enthusiasm for community-wide recycling is also energizing staff. Siders notes that ever since the recycling bins were set up in October 2007, recycling in the office has seen a significant uptick. To promote the reuse of materials that might otherwise be discarded or recycled, Mount Airy Public Library maintains a continuous magazine swap on the window sills adjacent to the stacks. “It’s not an easy thing to keep neat, but people love it,” says Pat Gwyn. “The idea is that patrons bring in a magazine and take home another one, but we

Learn more, visit www.simplelivingtv.net

american libraries

april 2009

red Stoss, cochair of ALA’s Task Force on the Environment, says libraries around the country have seen an exploding interest in saving the planet ever since the release of Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth in 2006. “No pun intended,” Stoss quips, “global warming has become a really hot topic.” To respond to that interest, most library efforts have centered on environmental outreach programs. In 2008, Chicago Public Library adopted as its theme “Read Green, Live Green.” The program included classes and lectures for adults and children on green-living themes, concentrated in the high-traffic summer months. According to Ruth Lednicer, CPL director of marketing, programs ranged from a very-popular green parenting program; to the social dimensions of climate change; to a program on how to weave with used plastic bags. “The kids are as into it as the adults are,” Lednicer says. Over 52,000 children read 1.2 million green-themed books last year. For the summer program, the library paired up with the Chicago Park District and the Garfield Park Conservatory, taking the children outside. This March, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County organized Green University, a workshop sponsored by a local homebuilder about greening your home and lifestyle. Additionally, the library is hosting stand-alone events throughout the year on a range of topics, from bicycle commuting to the benefits of local food. David Siders says that the 2008 summer series on urban container gardening was so popular that they’re repeating it this summer. “It’s safe to say the public is hungry for more information on green living,” says Siders. “We’re hard at work trying to provide it.”

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Numerous libraries have moved beyond internal recycling to don’t monitor it.” Likewise, unsold assuming a more public role in books from the Friends of the the battle to curb the effects of Library biannual book sale, set on global warming.

april 2009

eet Wanda Urbanska, author of this article, at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, at a program sponsored by American Libraries, Sunday, July 12, 10:30–11:30 a.m., in the Auditorium Speaker Series. An expert on sustainability and green living, she will talk about simple and practical steps every librarian can take toward economic and environmental friendliness. Urbanska is the author or coauthor of seven books, including the forthcoming anthology Less Is More: Embracing Simplicity for a Healthy Planet, A Caring Economy, and Lasting Happiness (New Society, August 2009), Simple Living (Viking, 1992; Blair, 2004), Moving to a Small Town (Simon and Schuster, 1996), and Nothing’s Too Small to Make a Difference (Blair, 2004). She is host/producer of Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska, a nationally syndicated public television series currently in its fourth broadcast season on selected PBS stations nationwide. She has appeared on the Today Show, CBS This Morning and Oprah, and has been heard on NPR’s All Things Considered. O, The Oprah Magazine recently identified her as “the de facto Martha Stewart of the voluntary simplicity movement.” She has published in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Mother Earth News, Natural Home, and Rotarian, among others. She is a graduate of Harvard University.

Some librarians take their role as eco-citizens even further, modeling personal behaviors to reduce their carbon footprint for colleagues, staff, and patrons. Though she sheepishly admits to driving eight minutes to work, Louise Schaper walks everywhere else in town—for meetings downtown, to the post office, and even to the University of Arkansas, which is 10 blocks away, some of it uphill.

Eco-citizens and advocates

APPEARING

AT ALA’S ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN JULY

american libraries

bins in the foyer, are also free for the taking. “Especially in today’s economy—where books and magazines are considered luxuries—people are so happy to get these,” she says. Similarly, cutting waste at the source is an increasingly common initiative. To that end, many libraries have given plastic bags the pink slip. Chicago Public Library has phased out plastic bags entirely and now sells recycled canvas bags for a dollar. “We can’t keep them in stock,” says Ruth Lednicer, director of marketing. “If we’d done this five years ago, it wouldn’t have gone over. Now people are really getting it.” Some libraries have made the commitment to eliminate disposable plates, cups, and utensils for staff and reduce their use at library events. “We use actual plates, cups, and silverware in the staff lounge,” says Holzwarth. The Hastings library has a staff of 15, including five full-time employees, and a kitchen that “looks more like a home sink.” “We hand-wash our dishes and dry them with actual cloth towels.” With no on-site washing machine, staff takes turns bringing dirty towels home. For public events, china plates and real utensils are used along with recycledcontent paper cups. The rationale for the disposable cups is not so much the difficulty of hand washing, says Holtzwarth, but because “people were wandering off with our cups and glasses.” At Fayetteville Public Library, Louise Schaper says that they did away with bottled water and installed filters on water faucets. She brings her own bottle to work and fills it up several times daily, and encourages staff to follow suit. Eliminating night-time contract cleaning services in February 2006 and bringing cleaning in-house was one of Fayetteville’s best moves, according to Schaper. With the money saved, the library is now able to employ fulltime housekeeping staff, employees who are at the ready in the daytime to handle the inevitable spills and accidents. What’s more, the facilities manager now chooses their cleaning agents, which are hydrogen-peroxide-based, thus eliminating the risk of toxicity and cutting the cost of chemicals in half. As a result, Schaper says, the entire library is “much cleaner: clean and green.”

“It’s a hike,” she says, but “I set aside the time.” David Siders commutes three minutes on foot to his job at Cincinnati Public Library from his apartment a block away. “I joke that I might as well wear my pajamas to work,” he says. During a recent spate of snow and ice, when car commuting was a nightmare, he became the envy of his colleagues. He uses his bicycle to run errands downtown, where he buys locally and patronizes the farmers’ market, whenever possible. Perhaps Siders’ greatest contribution to eco-activism is in his advocacy role as chairman of the Recycling and Green Living Committee of the Downtown Residents Council. When he came onto the council, the city was “a little behind in providing curbside pickup.” Now, the communal recycling bins are in place. “Eyeballing the bin each week and seeing how full it gets, it’s clear we need a second one. The mayor has informed me that he hopes to add additional bins in the future.” ❚

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Building Science 101 by Lynn Piotrowicz and Scott Osgood

Save money, energy, and resources by getting a better understanding of how your building works

s you enter your building on a snowy morning, do you marvel at the beautiful icicles that drip down from the roof? As you look out your office window, do you express childish glee over the work of Jack Frost on your panes? Do staff members suddenly look thinner in April because they’ve started removing the multiple layers of their winter wardrobe? Does your library offer the same summer reading program every year, “Reading in the Tropics,” because then shorts, T-shirts, and sandals are the approved “uniform” for employees working in a building that feels like the rain forest: hazy, hot, and humid?

While many librarians accept responsibility for their town libraries, a good number do so based on the merits of our experience providing excellent library service. Few of us have any experience managing the physical plant: the structure of the facility, the building, the bones. Sure, we may have helped shovel snow, put up storm windows, or open vents, but those acts do not constitute knowledge of a building.

Changes in habit As building managers, we can examine our facilities to look for things that are causing the HVAC systems to run harder, longer, and less effectively. If you have done any

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research on how to make your building more energy efficient, then you have probably already made a few inexpensive and basic changes in your building. A few behavioral and physical changes will provide you with some immediate savings with little or no money invested. These changes do not require any contractors, special installation instructions, or understanding of building science; they are simply changes in habit and small hardware. 1. Install programmable thermostats (cost: under $100 each). ■ Buy thermostats that allow for both weekday and weekend programming (unless your hours of operation are the same all seven days of the week). ■ Choose thermostats that allow you to lock them with a password. ■ Installation is simple: Replace every old dial thermostat with a new programmable one by removing the old and following the instructions for wiring. ■ Remember that the recommended money-saving thermostat setting is 65–67 degrees during the winter and 78 degrees in summer. ■ Change the battery in the thermostat annually; make it part of your tune-up routine with your heating and cooling contractor. 2. Look up at your ceiling fans if you have them. ■ Are you using your ceiling fans correctly? Ceiling fans circulate air; they don’t provide any cooling relief. Use ceiling fans in the winter to push the warm air that sits on your ceiling down to the floor. Run fans on low to do this. ■ Turn on the fans and look up. In winter, fans should be rotating in a clockwise direction. In summer, fans should be circling in a counterclockwise direction. If this isn’t the case, change it. ■ Look up at your ceiling fans again. Are they flush against the ceiling? If you have high ceilings, fans against

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Beginner buildingscience lessons

5. Have your HVAC units serviced before use each season. ■ Annual service should include cleaning and/ or replacing all filters; filters should also be cleaned We may have helped shovel snow, put up and/or replaced every month. Doing so allows HVAC units to run more efficiently, since air can storm windows, or open vents, but those acts pass more freely through the systems. The added do not constitute knowledge of a building. bonus of clean filters is less dust particles blowing through the environment—less allergens and dirt. Lesson 1: East, west, north, south— ■ Your HVAC professional will check all components of your system and guarantee that all settings are for and what that means Look at your building. Orient yourself with the equator. maximum energy savings. Start using the terms north, south, east, and west to identify the geography of your facility. Using these directional 6. Unless you are taking showers or doing terms is the first step in understanding exactly how your laundry at your library, consider turning the building is impacted by its location on the horizon. hot-water tank temperature down to 105. During the winter months, the sun travels closer to the ■ The belief about hand- washing used to be the hotter the water the better, but the FDA recently changed the horizon or at a lower angle to your building. This means recommended temperature from 120 to 105F degrees, as that sun coming in the south windows of your building can researchers discovered that higher temperatures did not provide a significant solar heat gain. On sunny winter days, improve the efficacy of hand- washing. In fact, it was found open those southern window treatments and let the heat

april 2009

Okay, librarians: Brace yourselves, because we are going to discuss the physics of your building. Some of the concepts we understand intuitively. We remember watching our grandmothers closing the windows and heavy curtains early on a hot August day and opening them after dark. We never quite understood why she did this, but we enjoyed sitting in her cool living room during those dog days of summer. It is the goal of this section to impart a little knowledge about why these old strategies make sense.

Photo: Field Paoli Architects

4. Write a summer/winter rule for using your window treatments. ■ For cold climates, purchase the most energy-saving window treatments you can afford—ideally, double or triple cellular blinds, which are the most energy efficient. ■ An alternative window treatment for warm climates is window film.

3. Inspect your windows. ■ Have you put down your storm windows? Are your sash locks in the closed position? While this may seem simple, many times people close windows and never use the sash lock. If your windows are rattling in the wind—a sign of openings for cold air—check the locks to see that they are closed. This simple solution is a free and easy way to keep the cold, drafty air out of your workspace. If the sash locks aren’t functional, replace them. ■ To keep heat out during hot and humid weather, keep windows and doors closed. Open windows at night to let the cool air in, but close them before the sun is at its hottest.

that the tolerable temperature for washing hands was still not hot enough to kill bacteria. ■ The FDA scientists reported that hot water is more likely to cause excessive drying of the skin, which makes it harder to remove bacteria because of the extra cracks and grooves in dry skin. This, the researchers felt, would lead to painful hand-washing and therefore less thorough scrubbing. As a rule, the best water temperature with which to wash hands is the warmest temperature that you find comfortable. ■ Make energy-smart choices when replacing small appliances, computers, lights and light bulbs, HVAC, roofing, windows, and window treatments.

american libraries

the ceiling won’t provide any circulating assistance. Hire someone to install an extension to bring the fan down.

The children’s room at Almaden Branch Library in San Jose, California, uses MechoShades and low-e heat-reflecting glass for sun control.

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Expansive window walls draw light at the Belmont (Calif.) Library, which was designed to wrap around a grove of heritage oak trees.

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april 2009

Lesson 2: Heat transfer Heat transfer is simply the movement of heat in your building. In winter, heat moves from indoors to outdoors. In summer, heat moves from outdoors to indoors. There are three mechanisms by which heat transfer occurs: conduction, convection, and radiation. Conduction is the process by which heat is directly transmitted through a substance when there is a difference of temperature between adjoining regions, without movement of the materials. That heat rises is not exactly accurate. Heat flows through solid materials toward the cold in every direction. Insulation helps stem the effects of conduction, or what is called conductive heat loss. How air moves through your building is called convection. Think of convection as an interaction between the

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inside temperature of your building and the outside temperature of the neighborhood. Convection goes hand-in -hand with the stack effect, which involves how your building responds to the varying temperatures and how it interacts with your mechanical ventilation system. Your building is waging a constant battle between hot and cold air, and who wins the battle depends on the inside/outside temperature and the presence of leaks that allow one force an advantage over another. To better understand this concept, let us assume that our buildings are permeable vessels that contain 100 pounds of air. If the temperature outside is 65 degrees and the temperature inside is 65 degrees, the difference is zero. This means your building is under a constant pressure and the vessel remains filled with 100 pounds of air that is 65 degrees. During winter, the inside of your building is 65 degrees and the outside temperature is 10 degrees. The difference between the two temperatures is 55 degrees, and this difference causes an increase in pressure in your building; so the cold air in the lower levels of your building has more influence than the hot air and pushes the hot air up and out through your attic and roof. So the 100 pounds of air is made up of more cold air than hot, and your furnace works overtime to heat the cold air. During the summer, the inside temperature of your air-conditioned building is 75 degrees and the outside temperature is 95 degrees. The difference between these two temperatures is negative 20 degrees. This means your building is in a state of low pressure, and the superheated air from your attic is drawn down by the cool air in your lower levels, displacing the cool air that leaks out through the openings of the lower levels. In this case, the 100 pounds of air in your building is made up of more hot air than cool, so your air conditioners must work harder, trying to cool the hot air that is being pulled down through your building. Radiation is the third force acting on your building. Radiation is the direct transfer of energy between two points. During the winter, radiation or solar or thermal heat coming through your southern windows warms the room and feels good, while in the summer the thermal heat that comes through your window is more intense. A basic understanding of the forces acting on your building can help you make simple and inexpensive changes that will save money and energy. ❚ LYNN M. PIOTROWICZ, director of the Tucker Free Library in Henniker, New Hampshire, has been a librarian in old buildings for 17 years. She has a BA in psychology, an MA in organizational psychology, and an MLS from the University of Pittsburgh. SCOTT OSGOOD is a civil engineer with over 30 years in the building construction industry. He is director of facilities and capital projects for the seven-campus Community College System of New Hampshire. Their book, Building Rescue, will be published by ALA Editions in 2010.

Photo: Field Paoli Architects

stream in. Keep your window treatments closed on the north, east, and west sides of your building since there is no opportunity for this heat gain. In summer, morning sun saturates the east side of your building, adding a significant amount of heat. The same thing happens on the west side late in the day. Ideally, there are shade trees or exterior awnings to help alleviate some of the solar heat gain; if not, keep your window treatments closed to block some of this heat. Since the sun is at its highest during the summer, solar heat gain through southern windows is minimal, so you can again use these windows to let natural light in without significant heat gain. Hint: It is easier to communicate with contractors in these terms rather than using the names of the rooms within your building. “The windows in the Spectacular Room need to be caulked” leaves the contractor stymied about where the job needs to be done. Specifying “the northeast corner of the building” assures an immediate understanding.

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Academic

Entertainment and Recreation

Personal

Travel

Social

Rejuvenation Service

From solitary refuge to social hub, understanding the different ways students utilize the library is the key to boosting usage

Meeting Students’ Need States by Brian Mathews

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| american libraries

We can apply the same principle to libraries. We know that students need different things at different times of the day, as well as at specific points throughout the semester. Our challenge, then, is to align our products and services to be more optimal. What is it that students need in the morning, compared with the afternoon or late evening? A student asking a reference question during the day most likely has a different mindset than one seeking help at night: Is he on his way to class or did he just get off work; is she on her way to lunch or did she just eat dinner; is his assignment due next week or is it due tomorrow? While it is impossible for us to account for all possible variations,

anyone who has worked at a public service desk for several years recognizes patterns that emerge throughout the school year. By anticipating these patterns and building them into our communications strategy, librarians are better positioned to support users. By categorizing the needs that typical students encounter you can understand not only how they perceive the library, but also the bigpicture challenges that they face in college, and then work to fill those gaps. Once this foundation is in place, you can begin designing promotional strategies that effectively demonstrate the value of your library. To determine students’ needs, my advice is to start from scratch. Forget everything that you assume about the library. Leave your survey results, gate counts, LibQUAL+ data, and any other reports on your desk for a moment and take a walk around the building. Spend time observing your population. How do they interact with each other, with library staff, with print resources, and with the environment? A person isn’t just studying; he is tucked away in a quiet corner, hidden and possessive of his surrounding space. A group doesn’t just sit together; they socialize, tutor, collaborate, and possibly motivate each other. Perhaps the most important question we can ask is why? Why are they using the library? What particular need is being fulfilled? In the marketing industry there is a growing emphasis

april 2009

hen I lived in the Washington, D.C., metro area I frequently ate lunch at the gourmet-sandwich bistro Cosi. One evening I went there for dinner, and to my surprise it was a completely different experience. Instead of several clusters of small tables, the furniture was arranged to accommodate groups; instead of standing in line to order, there was table service. Dinner also featured wine, music, and mood lighting. Cosi adapts to the needs of its customers based upon the time of day; at midday the bistros provide a quick lunch, while in the evening they expand the menu and emphasize the atmosphere.

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april 2009

| american libraries

on the concept of need states. These mental states are motion. The modes of transportation may include cars, described as psychological or functional conditions that buses, and bikes, but most of the time is spent walking. can be aligned with purchases, such as “grooming” or n Rejuvenation needs. With such a breadth of activi“snacks,” as well as with objectives such as “making din- ties packed into each day, sometimes students just need ner” or “getting ready for work.” By understanding the to unwind. Rest and relaxation occurs when possible; purpose of the shopping encounter, retailers can package however, eight hours of continuous sleep is highly unitems that directly match customer needs. Think of ev- usual. Food consumption is similarly scattered. Many erything that you need for serving Thanksgiving dinner, students rely on naps and snacks to refresh, refuel, and taking a trip to the beach, or fighting the flu. These events replenish before returning to action. transcend activities into emotional experiences: Thanksgiving is about “family,” the beach is about “relaxation,” Academics and atmosphere and treating the flu is about “recovery.” To be user-sensitive organizations we must visualize how Need states are also present in the academic environ- a trip to the library fits in with everything else students ment. Students moving throughout the day encounter a have going on. Librarians should integrate their products wide variety of obligations. Librarians can benefit by into the student lifestyle. How can we provide opportuniacknowledging these needs and aligning our services to ties for students to fulfill social, entertainment, or service address each one. I suggest seven categories representing needs? To be user-centered, a library has to be more than the broad spectrum of student needs. just a great channel for academic services, but should also n Academic needs. Not only do students spend sevprovide a rich atmosphere that supports cultural, social, eral hours a week in the classroom, but they also attend leisure, and creative activities. labs, office hours, and reviews. Outside of these formal Students cannot be expected to study for several hours activities, students also attend inforwithout an opportunity to revitalize mal study sessions, review textbooks both their body and mind. Libraries and notes, and perform numerous How can we provide need to provide a variety of study enother assignment-related tasks. opportunities for vironments ranging from quiet to Their academic responsibilities are noisy, from isolated to communal. A students to fulfill an omnipresent part of their life. visit to the library should not be limited to fulfilling research needs, but n Social needs. While academic social, entertainment, should allow opportunities to grab a needs may dominate the student snack, to gossip with friends, to take schedule, social activities are also or service needs? a nap, or to listen to a motivating important. From hanging out with friends or developing romantic relationships, to talking speaker. In short, we need to give them new reasons to use with family on the phone or attending parties, students the library. This concept of “filling the need” will factor largely into engage in a variety of social encounters. n Entertainment and recreational needs. Entertain- our messaging. We can present the library in many difment and recreation is another common theme, covering ferent ways. It’s not just for doing research, but also the a wide range of activities such as leisure reading, creative place to start, edit, and finish an assignment. It is a pit expression, hobbies, games, concerts, movies and televi- stop during the day and a quiet couch late in the afternoon. sion, sporting events, and exercise. While many of these It is a place to plug into the web and to discover new ideas outings are social in nature, they are focused upon par- and experiences. The library is a shrine of solitude, deticular activities, elevating the experience above a mere signed for introspection, discovery, and preparation; and conversational encounter. it is also a social hub, filled with friends, activities, surn Service needs. A commitment to service is present prises, and chance encounters. Our central theme should in many students’ lives. This can take the form of employ- be that the library is the place where things happen on ment or volunteerism. Opportunities abound for partici- campus, and our promotional efforts should align with pation in charity, religious, environmental, civic, these various need states. In this way, students won’t need political, and professional activities. to think about why they should use the library, but instead n Personal needs. Students have a variety of personal will simply see it as the logical destination. z needs: hygiene, shopping, cleaning, laundry, medical visits, and numerous other chores, errands, and responsiBrian Mathews is a user experience librarian bilities. Personal time is also necessary for reflection, at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. His blog is the Ubiquitous Librarian (www meditation, assessing priorities, and planning. .theubiquitouslibrarian.typepad.com). This article n Travel needs. A surprising amount of students’ time is adapted from Marketing Today’s Academic Library: A Bold New Approach to Communicating is spent moving from point A to point B. From home, to with Students, published in March by ALA Editions. class, to work, to a friend’s house, they are in constant

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3/17/2009 3:49:22 PM

Youth Matters | Professional Development

It’s Not All Fun and Games Academic libraries apply scholarship to virtual play

by Jennifer Burek Pierce

“We haven’t even

JENNIFER BUREK PIERCE is assistant professor of library and information science at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Contact her at youthmatters@ala.org.

(Association of College and Research Libraries, 2008). • John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. mitpress.mit.edu/. • The Librarian’s Guide to Gaming. librarygamingtoolkit.org/.

For Further Reading

american libraries

like gaming nights. initiatives had a dialogue Recent Purdue actividate back to in this profession 2005, Lisa ties responding to this initiative include the about ‘What does Janicke acquisition of land in preserving a game mean?’” Hinchliffe Second Life and the explained. As Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe February debut of a head of the Center for Serious Games and Undergraduate Library, Hinchliffe Learning in Virtual Environments. links games with faculty research Purdue gaming bibliographer and teaching. “This is about worldGeorge Bergstrom coordinates with renowned researchers and their like-minded colleagues such as Proscholarly work, and the education of fessor William Watson, who leads the our students,” she said. Reaching center, which allows Watson to assess out to the local gaming industry and players’ reactions to games and the to student groups with gaming inlibrary to host Second Life activities. terests is also part of the libraries’ One broad goal involves bridging efforts, and events “pairing open the gap between information literacy play with an academic component” and game playing. “Games can attract 50–80 students. teach,” Bergstrom said, adding, “We’re thinking about this as a “We’ve got to figure out how to sell long-term collection,” Hinchliffe it.” Thinking about users is part of said, noting that questions range that picture. Noting the trend that from how to place a game on reserve saw universities replicating their to preservation issues. “Is the game space in Second Life only to see virthe published work, or is it the sum tual campuses “turn into ghost total after it’s played?” she asked, towns,” Bergstrom observed, “Most indicating that there’s a difference users won’t go in and do something between the rules that construct a they could do already.” game and what happens when playAt the University of Illinois at ers make choices. “We haven’t even Urbana-Champaign, game-related had a dialogue in this profession about ‘What does preserving a game mean?’” Hinchliffe observed. Nonetheless, she said, “Video games aren’t a departure from previous collection practices: They’re an evolution of it. There’s that need • Gaming in Academic Libraries, Amy Harris and Scott E. Rice, eds. to support the researcher.” z

april 2009

ome tidbit about 21stcentury pop culture routinely penetrates my historically oriented consciousness, thanks in part to Brian Visser, University of Iowa SLIS student and adult services assistant at Iowa City Public Library. Brian’s good-natured enthusiasm for new media ensures that public libraries’ use of video games remains on my radar. But here’s something Brian didn’t tell me: Video games, as activities and objects, are a developing presence in university libraries, too. For many academic libraries, the idea emerged in 2007, when ALA’s first gaming symposium (AL, Sept. 2007, p. 15) first broached the subject, as Catherine Fraser Riehle, instructional outreach librarian at Purdue University, explained. Afterward, Riehle said, she and 11 other colleagues formed an exploratory committee with a three-fold aim: to provide and gather resources, including the fostering of connections across campus; to inves‑ tigate issues in information literacy and instruction; and to host events

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3/17/2009 3:26:08 PM

People | Announcements

Currents n Judith Anderson was promoted to director of Longmont (Colo.) Public Library December 1, 2008. n January 31 Ann Armbrister retired as deputy executive director of the College Center for Library Automation in Tallahassee, Florida. n In December Lynne Baldwin was promoted to supervisor of the Mandarin branch of Jacksonville (Fla.) Public Library. n The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign appointed Alistair Black professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science effective in January. n Phyllis Broomfield retired as periodicals librarian at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee

December 31, 2008. n Elaine Charnov has been appointed director of education, programming, and exhibitions at New York Public Library. n Menlo College in Atherton, California, has named Sarah Clatterbuck systems librarian. n Susan Clayton became Lake County, California, librarian on December 31, 2008. n Cheryl Collins has been appointed technical services librarian at Menlo College in Atherton, California. n Springfield–Greene County (Mo.) Library District has appointed Regina Cooper executive director. n Serene S. Corley is the new user services librarian at Brevard (N.C.) College. n Stark County (Ohio)

n Jessica Fenster-Sparber, MLS student at Queens College and CEO of Literacy for Incarcerated Teens, is one of 10 winners of the 2008 Maybelline New York Beauty of Education Award. n Brewster Kahle was awarded the 2008 Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Graduate School of Library and Information Science January 24. n M. J. Tooey, executive director of the University of Maryland’s Health Sciences and Human Services Library in Baltimore, has been named a Fellow of the Medical Library Association.

Christopher Korenowsky

District Library has appointed Kendel Croston manager of the Plain Community Branch. n In March Connie Vinita Dowell became dean of libraries at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. n Rebecca Eller started as children’s librarian at Larchmont (N.Y.) Public Library on December 14, 2008. n Jefferson County (Colo.) Public Library has named Steve Endicott director of innovation and strategies for information technology. n Dexter R. Evans was appointed southwest territory sales representative for H. W. Wilson January 29. n Julie Flemming retired in February as director of Fox Lake (Wis.) Public Library. n January 5 J. B. Hill became director of public services at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Ottenheimer Library. n Kathleen Jansen retired as Lake County, California, librarian December 30, 2008. n Margeaux Johnson has joined the University of

Teresa Knott

Richard Kuhta

Florida in Gainesville as science-technology librarian. n February 28 Cynthia Klinck retired as director of Washington-Centerville (Ohio) Public Library. n Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond named Teresa L. Knott director of Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences and associate university librarian effective March 10. n Christopher J. Korenowsky joined the Ohio Library Council as director of professional development February 4. n Richard Kuhta retired as Eric Weinmann Librarian at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., December 8, 2008. n January 1 Renee McBride became head of the special formats and metadata section of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. n January 12 Lucinda Munger became library services director at Orange County (N.C.) Library. n Gary Nichols retired as Maine state librarian December 31, 2008. n James Pelton will retire

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april 2009

cited

Alistair Black

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obituaries

At ALA

n Development Associate Amanda Armstrong left

Lois Langer Thompson

the Office for Information Technology Policy January 20, supporting the Program on Networks. n Jonathan West, manager of communications for the American Association of School Librarians, left ALA February 26. z

Send notices and color photographs for Currents to Greg Landgraf, glandgraf@ala.org.

Virginia Thomas

ALA January 30. n January 5 Sheila Joy joined ALA as e-learning specialist. n Norman Rose became program officer for the Office for Research and Statistics September 29, 2008. n Marjike Visser joined

april 2009

n Marilyn Wurzburger retired January 23 as head of special collections at Arizona State University in Tempe.

January 16. She curated numerous art exhibitions and started the International Edible Book Festival in 2000. n Althea Jackson, 86, a librarian in various schools and public libraries near Brockton, Massachusetts, from 1965 to 1972, died February 7. n Earl A. McGovern, 80, trustee emeritus of Lima (Ohio) Public Library, died January 6. n AL recently learned of the June 23, 2008, death of Molly P. Morris, 59, a librarian for 22 years at Providence (R.I.) Public Library, Pawtucket (R.I.) Memorial Hospital, and Doña Ana Community College in Las Cruces, New Mexico. n Teresa F. Strozik, 70, whose 36-year library career included stints at Syracuse (N.Y.) University, State University of New York, and Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, died January 2. n Judith E. Wallace, 54, director of Mattapoisett (Mass.) Free Public Library, died November 15, 2008, after a long illness. n David T. Wilder, 91, director of the Long Island Library Resources Council in Bellport, New York, from 1971 to 1982, died January 22. Prior to working at LILRC, he worked in libraries at Hamilton College; the American University of Beirut; Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan; the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg; Ohio State University in Columbus; and the University of Baghdad.

n Helen W. Dalrymple, 68, chief spokeswoman at the Library of Congress public affairs office for 20 years until her 2005 retirement, died February 13 of complications from brain cancer. As a researcher with LC’s Congressional Research Service in the 1970s, she was coauthor of Treasures of the Library of Congress. n AL recently learned of the March 4, 2008, death of Peter Michael Doiron, 73, editor-in-chief of Choice from 1966 to 1971. n Ruth Carpenter Donnell, 89, librarian at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia from 1969 to 1976, died December 26, 2008, of pneumonia. n Marjorie K. Ewald, 92, librarian at Tiffin-Seneca (Ohio) Public Library and Fremont (Ohio) Middle School for a total of 23 years, died December 20, 2008. n Evan Farber, 86, library director at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, from 1962 until 1994, died February 12. He was ALA’s Association of College and Research Libraries president in 1977 and received ACRL’s Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award in 1980, the Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award in 1987, as well as three honorary doctorates. n Judith Hoffberg, 74, cofounder of the Art Libraries Society of North America in 1973, died of lymphoma

american libraries

as director of Shreve Memorial Library in Shreveport, Louisiana, April 20. n May 1 Molly Raphael will retire as director of Multnomah County (Oreg.) Library. n Jeffrey Rippel has retired as director of Calcasieu Parish (La.) Public Library. n David Ross, director of Morgan County (Ind.) Public Library, retired December 31, 2008. n Mike Sainsbury has joined Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology in Saskatoon as instruction/liaison librarian. n Michael Sawyer became director of Calcasieu Parish (La.) Public Library January 1. n Wayne State University in Detroit has named Virginia C. Thomas as director of Neef Law Library. n Lois Langer Thompson became director of Hennepin County (Minn.) Library February 16. n December 30, 2008, Anne Turner retired as director of Santa Cruz (Calif.) Public Libraries. n Lisa C. Wemett retired as assistant library director of Webster (N.Y.) Public Library in March. n November 14, 2008, Melinda Wing retired as head of the Palo Alto (Calif.) Children’s Library.

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Professional DEVELOPMENT | Books

Librarian’s Library Access for All

INDEXED, 171 P. PBK. $40 FROM SCARECROW PRESS (978-0-8108-6247-0)

What’s in a Word?

A thesaurus is a standard part of a writer’s toolkit, as well as a library’s reference shelves. The Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus offers over 300,000 synonyms and 10,000 antonyms. What sets it apart from other thesauri, though, are the various features designed to help you find the right word every time. Word

Battles charts this history from the days of slavery to the civil rights movement. Spectrums provide a range of near synonyms from one word to its op-

New From ALA

n planning for a second edition of Fundamentals of Collection Development and Management, author Peggy Johnson not only read reviews of the first, but also consulted with library school faculty who were using it. Based on their recommendations, one of her goals for the second was to make it more relevant to different kinds of libraries. Among other changes, discussion of electronic resources now appears throughout the book instead of in a separate chapter, a new chapter on scholarly communication has been added, and there are more practical tools, such as sample collection-development and policy statements. INDEXED. 407 p. PBK $70 (978-0-8389-0972-0)

oung adult librarians will welcome The Hipster Librarian’s Guide to Teen Craft Projects from Tina Coleman and Peggy Llanes, describing 12 creative projects that can be done using mostly recycled and repurposed materials. Among their ideas: melted crayon bookmarks and rubber band bracelets. The “Mess Factor” is provided for each project, along with detailed instructions and suggestions for spin-offs and adaptations. Even if you aren’t necessarily a hipster, you’ll appreciate the attention to detail and thrift. INDEXED. 91 P. PBK. $40 (978-0-8389-0971-3)

american libraries | april 2009

lthough as a profession we pride ourselves on our commitment to access, it’s a sad fact that library access has often been denied to African Americans. In The History of Public Library Access for African Americans in the South, or, Leaving Behind the Plow, David M. Battles charts this history from the days of slavery to the civil rights movement. While in the North most libraries were fully integrated by the early 1890s, in the South many libraries had “separate place” policies until the 1960s. Hand in hand with this history is the struggle of AfricanAmerican librarians in the South to achieve full participation in the profession. Although African Americans had been working in segregated library branches since the early 1900s, few accredited library school programs admitted African Americans as students, and as late as 1962, Wilson Library Bulletin was reporting that African-American librarians had been denied membership in state library associations. Battles also weaves in the history of the American Library Association’s internal struggles over access for African Americans.

by Mary Ellen Quinn

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ROUSING READS

1,052 P. $39.50 FROM OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS (978-0-19-534284-0)

Board Tips

If you work with a library board, you may not be able to hire registered parliamentarian and board effectiveness advisor Eli Mina, but you can read his book 101 Boardroom Problems and How to Solve Them. In it, he outlines the potential damage and suggests interventions for familiar and frustrating scenarios that can throttle a board’s effectiveness—“The Single-Issue Advocate,” “The Spineless Chair,” “Time Wasting,” “Board Acting as a Complaint Department.” The forward was contributed by ALA Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels, who knows a thing or two about boards. INDEXED, 178 P. $24.95 FROM AMERICAN MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (978-0-8144-1058-5) z

or noir fiction to flower, its heroes need to find themselves hopelessly trapped, either due to their own weaknesses or to circumstances beyond their control. Decadence and repression are the key ingredients in any noir cocktail, but it’s hard to find both served at the same bar. Repressive societies, after all, don’t usually allow enough freedom to support much in the way of decadence. What you need is a decadent society on the way down, maybe with some nasty repressive types chomping at the bit, ready to take control. Like, say, Germany’s Weimar Republic between the wars, the cabarets in full swing, offering every variety of sensual pleasure for the price of few million inflated marks, while the Nazis—modeling brown shirts and jackboots—prepare to put on their own show. Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther series remains the gold standard for Nazi noir, but the subgenre seems to be thriving as never before, with three fine examples published between March and May. Kerr came first, with his fifth Gunther novel, A Quiet Flame (Putnam). Set in the heart of the Weimar era, the first novel in the series, March Violets, established Kerr’s almost surreal premise: Take a wise-cracking Chandlerian detective and let him talk tough to emerging thugs named Goering and Himmler. As A Quiet Flame begins, it’s 1950, and Bernie is on a boat to Argentina, lumped in with some of the Nazis he baited in the earlier novels. But after landing in Buenos Aires, Bernie is shanghaied into investigating a case with tentacles extending to 1932, giving Kerr the reason he needs to flash back to Weimar, where life is a cabaret, old chum, even if the party is nearly over. That’s the mood, too, in Rebecca Cantrell’s A Trace of Smoke (Forge). Hannah Vogel is a crime reporter in 1931 Berlin, on intimate terms with the city’s underbelly, but that doesn’t protect her from the shock of seeing her brother’s picture posted in the police department’s Hall of the Unnamed Dead. Backtracking Ernst’s final days takes Hannah deep into the Nazi power structure, where alternative sexual behavior is pursued with gusto, despite the soon-to-be führer’s disapproval. Cantrell nails the cabaret atmosphere, including the desperation floating inside the champagne bubbles. Concluding our Nazi noir hat trick is perhaps the best of the lot: Jonathan Rabb’s Shadow and Light (Farrar). In 1927 Berlin, Chief Inspector Nikolai Hoffner is called to the movie studio Ufa to investigate the presumed suicide of an executive. Think Pandora’s Box: The wildly complex plot starts with a new invention to synchronize sound and action on film, but that’s really a McGuffin, leading Hoffner to a plan to rearm Germany. Rabb introduces a host of real-life figures (Joseph Goebbels and legendary director Fritz Lang among them), and there’s plenty of Weimar decadence on view, but it’s the fascinating slice of film history overlaid with a sense of the gathering storm that gives the novel its punch. That and Hoffner himself, a noir hero in every way, from his unquenchable thirst for potables to the inevitability with which he finds himself caught in the riptide of history. Bill Ott is the editor and publisher of ALA’s Booklist.

Mary Ellen Quinn is editor of ALA Booklist’s Reference Books Bulletin.

Nazi Noir

american libraries | april 2009

to its opposite: beautiful/ugly, kind/ cruel, praise/disparage. The Wordfinder lists words in categories—all the different kinds of chairs or sandwiches for example. Penned by Zadie Smith, David Foster Wallace, and other writers, Word Notes offer sometimes idiosyncratic perspectives on word choice. If you’re a word lover (devotee, fan, enthusiast, aficionado), you’ll find yourself lost in browsing.

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SHOWCASE | New Products

Solutions and Services

OCLC has released CONTENTdm 5, the new version of its CONTENTdm digital collection management software. CONTENTdm 5 fully supports Unicode so all languages can be searched and offers a redesigned Project Client that streamlines collection-building workflows to reduce the time needed to create a digital collection.

<<<

www.oclc.org/contentdm

www.gaylord.com Gaylord Furniture’s new Genesis line offers a modular circulation desk, reading tables, carrels, workstations, stands, and shelving. Five wood-finish options are available, as well as mobile and slatwall shelving, accent trim, and lighted corner display units.

www.atlas-sys.com Ebrary offers the E-Libro Spanish-language database, containing 30,000 books, theses, and research journals from more than 100 publishers. E-Libro is compatible with existing OPACs; allows a customized, library-branded interface; and can be accessed by users within the library and remotely.

The Ares reserves automation system is now available from Atlas Systems. The web-based system allows faculty to manage their own reserve lists, tag items to categorize large reading lists, and upload items in a variety of file formats. Ares integrates with existing e-learning environments and includes copyrightmanagement and item-tracking functionality.

To have a new product considered for this section, contact Brian Searles at bsearles@ala.org.

american libraries | april 2009

www.e-libro.com

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<<< www.mergent.com Mergent’s InvestorEdge business research tool contains company-specific documents updated weekly for more than 4,000 U.S. and international corporations, three years of financial highlights and equity pricing information, and key financial ratios for each company. The database also contains analysis and buysell-hold recommendations from Ford Equity Research.

www.sentrytechnology.com Sentry Technology Corporation offers RFID antenna panels with finishes customizable to match library décor. The system is live at all times and does not rely on a photo eye being tripped before activating the detection field. Corridors meet Barrier Free and ADA accessibility codes, and the system is safe to use with magnetic media including videos and audiocassettes.

CASE STUDY Link Resolution for Interlibrary loan

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Ex Libris: www.exlibrisgroup.com

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he Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CaliThe library opted for SFX, a link resolver hosted by fornia, has 2,400 resident and distance learning Ex Libris. “We didn’t set out to have a hosted solution,” students, 650 faculty, and 500 staff. Its research and Uhlinger said. Several needs, however, led the library to education primarily supports the U.S. Navy and Marine that option: the desire to have a quick installation, the Corps, but the mission extends to the rest of the armed already-burdened IT staff and servers, the concurrent forces, as well as allied implementation of a new nations and the defense content management and national security comsystem, and Department munities. of Defense regulations The school’s Dudley about what services can Knox Library decided to be made available over implement an OpenURL the military network. link resolver in 2006 when The first SFX-based new director Eleanor interlibrary loan request Uhlinger brought awarecame within an hour of ness of the services that a opening the system, and link resolver could provide. the service has gained An OpenURL combines popularity as users bea base URL with additional came familiar with it. The contextual data—often library branded the serScreen capture of the SFX link resolver as implemented bibliographic data, which vice as “Get It!—Dudley at Dudley Knox Library. the link resolver can use to Knox Library.” Thus far connect an item citation to the target item itself. The it has relied primarily upon templates provided by Ex library wanted this functionality, which would require Libris and the content management system, although little support from librarians and IT staff. the library has plans to add more customization.

april 2009

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT | Classifieds

Career Leads from Your #1 source for job openings in Library and Information Science and Technology

Place a Job Ad

Consultants or Classifieds

Visit JobLIST.ala.org to establish an institutional account in order to place Webonly ads, print ads in American Libraries and C&RL News, or any combination. Print ads in American Libraries cost $7.50 per line, $5.50 for ALA institutional members. Display ads range from $125 to $2,340. Print ads may be posted on JobLIST for 60 days for an additional $75, $65 for ALA institutional members. Complete rate and size information at JobLIST.ala.org.

“Librarians’ Classifieds” and “ConsultantBase” are convenient and economical ad sections that put your products and services in front of more than 100,000 readers. See print ad rates above. No ALA institutional member discount. Discounts for multiple insertions: 2–5 months, 5%; 6 months or more, 10%. ConsultantBase appears in the January, April, June, and October issues.

Print Deadline April 6 for the May issue, which mails about May 1. Ads received after the 5th will be published as space permits through about April 15.

Contact E-mail joblist@ala.org or call 800-5452433, Jon Kartman, ext. 4211. C areer Leads, American Libraries, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; fax 312-440-0901.

COORDINATOR OF REFERENCE, OUTREACH AND INSTRUCTION. The California Institute of the Arts seeks an experienced librarian and educator to develop and coordinate reference services, outreach efforts, and instruction programs. This public services position includes teaching an information literacy course. For details, see tinyurl.com/c4eth8. OUTREACH SERVICES ASSISTANT DIRECTOR. The Outreach Services Assistant Director (OSAD) directs and oversees management of Outreach Services staff and functions, including Deposit Collections, Community Branches, Books-by-Mail, Bookmobiles and the Sub-regional Library for the Blind

A salary range is requested for all job recruitment ads per ALA guidelines. The ALA Allied Professional Association endorses a minimum salary for professional librarians of not less than $40,000 per year. Job applicants are advised to explore “faculty rank” and “status” carefully. ALA opposes residency requirements and loyalty tests or oaths as conditions of employment. Job titles should reflect responsibilities as defined in ALA

Billing Payment Terms: Visa, MasterCard, or American Express. If pre-approved, net 30 from invoice date. Invoice and tearsheet mailed to the advertiser following publication. Cost of ad furnished upon request.

Shepley Bulfinch/SBRA Architects | 50 Tech Logic | Cover 4 Vitetta Architects and Engineers | 50 Wallace Roberts and Todd | 50

american libraries

april 2009

POSITIONS OPEN

Advertising Policies

personnel guidelines. ALA requires that organizations recruiting through the Association’s publications or placement services comply with ALA antidiscrimina tion policies. Policy 54.3 states that the Association “is committed to equality of opportunity for all library employees or applicants for employment, regardless of race, color, creed, sex, age, disabilities, individual life-style or national origin.” By advertising through ALA services, the orga nization agrees to comply with the policy. Ads are edited only to conform to standard style. Acceptance of an advertisement does not constitute endorsement. ALA reserves the right to refuse advertising.

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Available Librarian and Professional Positions University of Michigan Library

Coordinator of Public and Information Services, Asia Library East Asian studies are moving rapidly in a digital direction and we seek a librarian interested in exploring the following questions: c What are the best practices for connecting with faculty and students who are specializing in East Asian studies? c How can the Asia Library play a role in promoting its services and collections to the population it serves? c What impact does technology have on scholarship in East Asian studies? c How does technology play a role in the access to information resources for international studies? c How do we use the web to best serve our user community? Undergraduate Learning Librarians Envision a collaborative learning environment where students ask questions, explore new ideas, think through complex issues, discover new ways of approaching research, learn various viewpoints, and create meaning out of disparate facts. We seek librarians to engage in answering questions such as: c Is the library becoming an extension of the classroom? An extension of social functions? How does this impact spatial and programmatic design decisions? How does the library balance being where the students “are” and where they want the library “to be”? c What does it mean for an undergraduate library to be the intellectual center of the undergraduate experience? How does this translate into the services and facilities provided? c How should the library facilitate interdisciplinary work? How does this inform our decisions about our facilities? programs? services? collections? c How do technologies play a role in our services? c What is the future of instruction? How does that impact outreach and service efforts?

Digital Preservation Librarian Shape the future of tomorrow’s past. Join one of the world’s cuttingedge digital libraries in creating the field of digital preservation. Take on the challenge of exploring such concepts as: c What does preservation mean in the context of a digital library with holdings counted in millions? c Step-by-step, what does a library need to do to ensure that digital collections will be available ten years from now? 50 years? 100 years? c How does a digital repository assure users and partners that the holdings are secure for the long-term? c What does the community at all levels—students, faculty, librarians, the public at large—need to know about preserving digital information, and what is the best way to instruct them? The University of Michigan, a leader in undergraduate and graduate education and one of the world’s premier research universities, has prominent faculty, rigorous academic programs, and a diverse cultural and social environment. Recent leadership examples include the launch of HathiTrust (www.lib.umich.edu/mdp/), an unparalleled opportunity for the creation of new services in support of the teaching, learning, and research mission of the University; facility upgrades in support of undergraduate learning, writing, and research; launching of a new video archives collection; and our successful outreach efforts in support of medical clinical staff in support of evidence-based medicine. Situated in the heart of Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan is in a unique urban area with a small-town atmosphere and a vibrant cultural and intellectual sensibility. Individuals with interest in and appropriate qualifications for one or more of these positions are encouraged to apply. For more information about specific responsibilities and qualifications, please visit www.lib.umich.edu/hr/employment/librarians.html. To apply, email cover letter and resume to Robert Campe at libhumres@umich.edu. Call 734-764-2546 for further information. Review of applications will begin on April 24, 2009, and continue until the positions are filled. The University of Michigan is a non-discriminatory, affirmative action employer.

In addition to the cluster of Public Services positions described above, the Library seeks candidates for the digital resource positions that follow:

Digital Library Production Services, Head The Digital Library Production Service is one of the nation’s premier organizations for the creation and support of digital library resources and infrastructure. We seek a future-oriented librarian to lead a skilled and diverse team in addressing challenges such as: c How will the library adapt to its changing needs in digital library services, as well as those of its national and international clients and partners, in an increasingly integrated and collaborative information environment? c What tools and services are needed to support research in this environment, and how will they be implemented? c What new partnerships and opportunities in digital libraries do emerging technologies make possible? c How can DLPS leverage its position as a national leader in digital libraries to forge and strengthen these partnerships, and continue to provide cutting-edge solutions for digital content delivery and preservation both locally and abroad?

april 2009

Science, Technology, and Medicine Librarians Imagine an environment of integrated research, education, and community service where faculty, students, researchers, health care providers, and librarians explore their intersecting roles, adapt to changing environments and harness the power of new technologies to further the work of the University. We seek librarians to engage in answering questions such as: c How should the library facilitate interdisciplinary and translational research? How does this inform our decisions about our facilities? programs? services? collections? c What does it mean to be a collaborator rather than a support service? c What is the library’s role in informatics education and research? c How can the library best adapt to the changes in scholarly publishing? c What is the science, technology, medical library of the future and how might we get there?

Text Creation Partnership, Project Outreach Librarian (term appointment) Promoting the use of digitized materials for research and teaching is vital to supporting scholarship. We seek a librarian interested in engaging in questions such as: c What role should libraries play in developing more sophisticated tools for humanities research? c How is scholarship changed by access to large bodies of digitized historical materials? c How can libraries support the use of encoded text in research and teaching? c How do we nurture and sustain collaborative digitization projects across multiple institutions?

he University of Michigan Library seeks innovative librarians to join a dynamic, collegial team engaged in advancing research, collections, teaching, and learning in a client-oriented environment. In addition, the Library seeks candidates for various digital positions. Successful candidates for our Public Services positions (described below) will balance a wide range of service-oriented activities including reference services and expert searching, teaching information literacy skills, curriculum-integrated instruction, collection development, outreach, and program and service development, while increasing outreach to and participation in the research process of a diverse population of faculty and students.

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT | Classifieds

City Librarian

City of Monterey Park, California Salary range: $99,012-$120,636 annually (appointing range: $99,012-$112,090 DOQ); 3% salary increase effective 7/09 plus excellent benefits including 2.5% @ 55 CalPERS retirement. Requires a Master’s of Library Science degree and 5 years of professional library experience, including 2 years in a management and/or supervisory capacity. Apply by 5/1/09. Visit www. ci.monterey-park.ca.us or call 626-307-1334 for additional information and required City application.

Search online for jobs in Florida’s libraries Upload your résumé for future job positions http://FloridaLibraryJobs.org Brought to you by LSTA and the State Library and Archives of Florida

R E SE A R CH A N D I N S T RU C T I O N LIBRARIAN-COMMUNICATIONS, Albert S. Cook Library, Towson University. Towson University seeks a librarian who will lead communications, marketing, and proposal writing efforts of the library. Responsibilities also include providing user education to students and serving as liaison to the department of mass communications and other assigned disciplines. REQUIRED: MLS from an ALA-accredited institution. Skills that demonstrate ability to write grant proposals and to create library publications and marketing materials required. Experience in library instruction, proposal writing, marketing and publications desirable. Visit cooklibrary.towson.edu/employment for more information. Compensation: This is a 12-month library faculty position on the permanent status track. Appointment will be made at the rank of Librarian I or II, depending on qualifications. Salary ranges are competitive; this position is contingent on the availability of funds at the time of the hire. Application process: Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Submit letter of

Staff development, supervision, conflict management, leadership, marketing, project management, change, and strategic planning. Consulting, workshops, training. “Anytime, anywhere, everywhere.” Working with libraries since 1978. Pat Wagner, Pattern Research, Inc. POB 9100, Denver CO 80209 303-778-0880; fax: 303-722-2680 pat@pattern.com; www.pattern.com

american libraries

april 2009

Consultant base

and Physically Handicapped. The OSAD jointly coordinates with the Director, the Public Services Assistant Director and the Youth Services Coordinator for oversight of public service and youth service functions within the Outreach Services area. Salary: $45,000-$52,000 annually. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS INCLUDE: An MLS from an ALA-accredited library program and 5 years of experience with management of direct and indirect reports, and performance of administrative functions in a public library setting, including the ability to effectively manage the performance of subordinates. To apply, please visit www.tuscaloosalibrary.org for details and application. The deadline to receive applications is Friday, April 24 at 4:30 p.m.

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interest, resume, and contact information for at least three professional references to: Diane Cascella, Communications Librarian Search, Albert S. Cook Library, Towson University, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252-0001. Electronic applications are encouraged and should be submitted to dcascella@ towson.edu. Towson University is an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action employer and has a strong institutional commitment to diversity.

Librarians’ Classifieds

Jim Stitzinger, 800-321-5596; e-mail jstitz@pacbell.net; www.booksforlibraries.com.

WANTED THEOLOGICAL BOOKS AND PERIODICALS for seminary. Books for Libraries, Inc., Jim Stitzinger, 23800 Via Irana, Valencia, CA 91355; 800-321-5596; e-mail jstitz@pacbellnet. UNNEEDED LIBRARY MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT WANTED. Books for Libraries, Inc., Jim Stitzinger, 23800 Via Irana, Valencia, CA 91355; 800321-5596; e-mail jstitz@pacbell.net.

PERIODICALS AND SERIALS JOURNALS AND BOOK COLLECTIONS WANTED. Ten years of service, work worldwide. Managed numerous projects of 100,000+ vols. Archival Resource Company, PO Box 488, Collingswood, NJ 08108; JournalSets@ Gmail.com; 800-390-1027; 215-7011853 (e-fax).

WANT TO BUY CHEMICAL OR BIOLOGICAL AB STRACTS AND OTHER SCIENCE JOURNALS. Contact: e-mail eva@rpbs.com; 713-779-2999; fax 713-779-2992.

DOCTORAL PROGRAM BOOK FOR SALE DISCIPLINED FOR OBJECTING to misconduct by a federal judge, attorney Richard Baldwin Cook writes (2009), May It Please The Court. $34.95 on amazon. com (free shipping), 20% discount to libraries: cookrb1@gmail.com.

LIBRARY SHELVING FOR SALE: SHELVING, BOOKCARTS, A N D FU R NI T U R E E s t ey l i b r a r y shelving.com. . . . Mobile/Compact shelving . . . Mizershelving.com.

FOR SALE USED STEEL LIBRARY SHELVING. 90 inches, double-faced cantilever, excellent condition. $135 per section.

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april 2009

Set Sail Notecards

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Read & Relax Bookmark Read Renew Return Tote Bag

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american libraries

Library Lion Poster

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COMMENTARY | Will’s World

Do You Come Here Often? Frequenting the library is frequently comforting

april 2009

on top of the newspapers, but they all had fairly unusual life stories that I enjoyed hearing. Life is hard, it grinds you down, and sometimes it deposits you at your friendly, neighborhood library. You can say what you want about the future of the public library, but its role as a refuge for lonely human beings can never be automated. At one urban library where I worked, the regulars would be waiting at the front door every morning like flies on a screen door, and I suppose that is how many of us on the staff viewed them. As much as I liked hearing their stories, I am now ashamed to admit, I came to regard them as a nuisance. I would tire of their smell and erratic behavior; as time wore on I saw them as life’s losers. Some were lovable losers, but they were losers nonetheless. So 30 years later, I started hanging out at the branch library on a daily basis. It just felt good to be surrounded by people. I tried to keep a low profile and out of the librarians’ way, but once I approached the woman at the reference desk to ask that a book be sent out from Main. She phoned Main and made the request. The call ended when she said, “Tomorrow will be fine. He’s here every day . . . he’s a regular.” z WILL MANLEY has furnished provocative commentary on librarianship for over 30 years and nine books on the lighter side of library science. Write him at wmanley7@att.net.

american libraries

The library’s role as refuge them smelled, some of for lonely them drank, and sevpeople can eral of them fell asleep never be automated.

television, stereo, computer, or radio, all of which were now in California. I had a phone, but it never rang. At first I liked living alone. There were no compromises to make. I could eat whatever and whenever I wanted, and get out of bed when I pleased. But the novelty quickly wore off. As much as I admire his writings, I am no Thoreau. I need people around me. I am a chatterer. I need an audience. After the first week, I got so desperate that I even resorted to talking to my prized collection of finger puppets. It bothered me that they didn’t chatter back. In the throes of my loneliness I fancied myself a latter-day Geppetto, but my little puppets never did come to life. So, when I really got lonely I would sit on my patio and chatter to the birds. At least they chirped back. But when a snake took up residence under some vines and starting eating the birds, I was really alone. My last resort for companionship was the branch library, which was only a five-minute bicycle ride away. I didn’t want to go there too often because I didn’t want to be branded a “regular.” I started out liking the regulars during my time as a public services “Oh, hi Mr. Manley. I haven’t seen you since yesterday.” librarian. Yes, many of

ast year I found myself living alone for the first time in my life. I was an early victim of the real estate collapse. Had I put my Arizona home of 25 years on the market two weeks earlier, it would have sold right away. But a month went by, and another and another. The house didn’t sell; nobody was even coming to look at it. My wife had already moved to our new home in California to take care of two grandchildren. It was a spooky time for me. The house was full of the memories of three children and the days when I thought it was too small and too noisy. Now I felt swallowed up in its emptiness and quietude. To exacerbate my disconnectedness, I had moved everything out of the house except the basic furnishings that were needed to sell it. That meant no

by Will Manley

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From George Washington to Barack Obama New!

Facts About The Presidents, 8th Edition By Joseph Nathan Kane, Janet Podell, and Steven Anzovin Comments on the 7th Edition:

“With uniformly designed chapters devoted to each president, this is the work to turn to with a presidential query.” —Booklist

What’s New in the Eighth Edition n Hundreds of new photos: families, spouses, action shots, tombs, buildings, paintings, and more. n Comprehensive facts about both terms of President George W. Bush. n The inauguration and early White House tenure of Barack Obama, his successor. n The most up-to-date knowledge available, relying on the latest scholarship. n A complete and compelling portrait of the nation’s highest office and the men and women who have held or sought it over the years.

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